


One Day at a Time

by raesuga



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Angst, Eventual Smut, Hispanic Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, i'll add more tags as the fic progresses, lance is hispanic (mexican), lots of bickering, nonbinary pidge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-07-29 18:36:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7695040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raesuga/pseuds/raesuga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance and Keith’s competitiveness drive them to do what everyone thinks they could never do: Last at least two weeks together on a road trip. Meaning, they would have to come back in one piece in order to win the bet. This was Pidge’s idea, nonetheless, and the boys wanted to prove them all wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really excited to begin this fanfiction simply because I could not pass up the opportunity to write a road trip au with these two dorks. I hope you all like it as much as I'm having fun writing it!

Keith’s phone buzzed next to him, waking him up from the sweet snooze he was having inside the library. He couldn’t recall even falling asleep on his homework, which only reminded him of how exhausted he had been the past couple of days due to finals coming up. The good thing about this time was the fact that he would have a long break in between semesters. He yearned for it, dreamt about it, but for now, studying would be his main activity.

He reached over for his phone, swiped over to unlock it and viewed his message. Keith blinked away the remnants of his snooze, clearing up the grogginess in order to sufficiently read this. It was Pidge who had messaged their group chat.

 **Pidge:** EVERYONE COME OVER TO MY ROOM RIGHT NOW ASAP THANKS

Keith groaned, letting his forehead hit the table he was sitting at. The thought of getting up and walking all the way over to their dorm made him feel even more tired. Did he really have to? Was it an emergency? Keith _knew_ that he didn’t have to go, and in fact, probably wasn’t an emergency like Pidge made it out to seem. But the small guilt that began to stir in his chest when he thought about not showing up was enough to irritate him, motivating him to get up. 

Gathering his belongings at his own pace, he threw his backpack over his shoulder and headed for the door. The unexpected cool breeze that blew right at him sent shivers down his body. _Jesus_ , he should’ve brought a sweater along. On the bright side, the slow, painful walk to Pidge’s dorm might just fully wake him up. Both the pain of walking and the cold air were factors to this. 

But he didn’t expect the third factor.

It was none other than Lance, whose appearance emitted a bold presence from afar that it wasn’t that hard to notice him on his radar. This was enough to make Keith want to turn around and pretend he didn’t even read the message. Then he remembered that the app they use has a read receipt on it. Why did he open the damn message? Why couldn’t he have kept sleeping instead? That thought sounded much better than this. 

Keith noticed that Lance kept looking at him, and then began to pick up his pace. He threw his head back, picking up exactly what he was trying to do. Unconsciously, he accepted his challenge and picked up his own pace as well, completely ignoring his fatigue. Lance noticed his move and picked up his pace even more, and eventually, they were both darting across campus grounds side by side. 

“Ha! Think you can beat me?” Lance said to him, never breaking sight of what was in front of him. He got a laugh out from Keith, not believing Lance’s words one bit.

“You kidding me? More like _I know_ I’ll beat you!” 

Keith’s last statement, which was meant to rile up Lance, did just that. Keith noticed that he picked up his pace slightly and then hit his maximum speed because he wasn’t going any faster. While Lance was slightly taller, which provided him longer legs, Keith had the stamina and skill set to reach him, staying neck to neck for a freakishly long time. 

Everyone else who was witnessing this sick race knew that they were breaking campus records for the fastest dash. The trail of wind that they left behind was extremely outrageous and over the top. But what was more outrageous was their level of competitiveness to simply win. And their end goal was...Pidge’s dorm? If anyone found out, they would be very disappointed. 

Lance’s right arm traveled out too far and hit Keith’s left side on accident, causing the other to call him out for cheating. It didn’t matter how many times Lance apologized because Keith never bought it, and took matters upon his own hands. He hit Lance back, seeing it as the fair thing to do. 

“Hey!” Lance immediately saw the foul play on Keith’s part, “That wasn’t an accident!”

“Not sure what you’re on about!” Keith played dumb, mimicking Lance earlier and played it as an accident.

Their destination was close, but neither of the two had intentions of slowing down. Every step counted, and Keith intended to go to the last step before attempting to open the door. At the last second, Lance lunged forward, gaining a step ahead of Keith. The last second action threw him off due to the surprise of it all, but it never strayed him from their goal. Because of it, Lance was able to grab the doorknob a nanosecond before Keith could. Keith placed his hand on top of his’ and battled each other to enter the building first before the other. They couldn’t even open the door due to all of the shoving and pushing on each other for the longest time. 

Until finally, Keith was able to shove Lance further away, giving him enough time to open the door and slip inside. But Lance wasn’t one to give up so quickly. He followed him quickly behind, grabbing a hold of the back of his shirt briefly until he had a lead on him again. Keith saw Lance begin to run up the stairs just before he did was able to get to them.

“Cheater!” Keith seethed, while choosing right then and there to jump and grab Lance by the arm. _If that’s how he wanted to play, then I’ll gladly be a player._

The grip on his arm almost whirled Lance around with the strength of it. Lance’s expression was downright priceless and he wished he could pull out his phone and take a picture of it. He was surprised that Keith, the Keith, actually and very obviously attempted to cheat back?

“Dude! You’re such a cheater!” Lance began to pull his own arm away from Keith, but it wouldn’t budge. 

“You cheated first, dumbass!” Keith immediately bolted for it again, letting go of Lance in the process. He hoped that Lance was as slow as he portrayed himself to be, because he would need it now in order for him to win. 

Reaching the last step, he saw Pidge’s room, and a wild smile crossed his face. Victory was soon upon him, and he couldn’t wait to savor it. Keith didn’t think about it too much, and ran for it. He heard Lance behind him, so close behind him that his adrenaline kicked in due to how cut close this was really going to be.

_Shit, shit, shit, shit_

Keith felt Lance’s arm coil around his chest, and the other one grip the wall. Lance successfully halted his steps, and he was oh so close to the door. Mere meters. 

“Ugh, let...GO!” Keith struggled in his arm--his single, lanky, arm that somehow had managed to stop him in one go. One hard, step at a time, Keith pushed his way forward, bringing Lance one step forward too.

“Never!” Lance was struggling as well to keep his grip on him, but he also knew that he couldn’t hold Keith back for long. That was when he thought to let him go slightly, which wasn’t the brightest idea because with all the force Keith was pushing to go forward, it took Lance along with him too.

Lance was able run next to him, side by side, quickly approaching the door. Of course, the two shoved each other and basically did whatever they could by that point to prevent the other from winning. When the were pretty much in front of the door, almost body slamming into it, Hunk had opened the door just in time to let the two run straight inside while biting at each other’s throats. 

“Oh shi-” Lance tripped on something that was on Pidge’s floor, causing the two to fall down simultaneously since they were pretty much tangled up before that. Keith cursed once he realized that Lance was bringing him down with him. 

“Holy crap,” Pidge fixed their glasses in clear and utter shock.

“Oh my god," Hunk gasped in horror, "are you guys okay? I should’ve moved my stuff, gah, I’m so sorry guys!” Hunk began to ramble, apologizing while trying to help the two get back up on their feet. However, he wasn’t able to because the two were fighting each other over who won. They were so into their argument that they didn’t even seem fazed that everyone else was watching them in shock. 

“I clearly won here! I was ahead of you!” Keith claimed, astonished that Lance had the audacity to even say he was the winner here. He had won fair and fucking square. And yet here he was, bickering about cheating.

“You cheated, you jerk!”

Keith couldn’t help but laugh at that. “So did you! In fact, you cheated first, idiot!”

“That was an accident and I said I was sorry!” Lance got up on his feet first, looking down on Keith who was still on the floor. 

“Bullshit!” Keith got up as well and placed himself right in front of Lance. 

“Guys, let’s calm down,” Shiro stood up and walked towards the two, placing an arm on both Keith’s and Lance’s shoulders.

“What’s going on?” Hunk asked curiously, simultaneously worried about their current condition.

“Obviously they’re fighting because they raced here and they don’t even know who won.” Pidge explained, disappointment weaved in their voice.

“Ohhhhhh,” Hunk thought that made sense, considering the kind of people both Keith and Lance were.

“Correction, I won. Me. Just saying.” Lance made it very clear, while pointing at himself in case anyone was still confused. Keith sighed, obviously irritated.

“Not really…” Keith muttered, still audible for everyone since this was, in fact, a small room.

“Yes, really!” Lance squeezed that last bit before Shiro placed his hands on both of their shoulders again, only slightly harder to get their attention to stop talking.

“Alright, that’s enough. How about you guys call this one a draw?” Shiro didn’t even finish the last word before having both of them groan, cutting him off.

“You can’t possibly call that a draw.” Keith looked at Shiro like he was insane. It was clear who actually won, and Shiro settling for something like that made this all the more irritating. He figured the headache he was beginning to build was due to the fact that he was still tired.

“But it was. Honestly, none of us could tell you who won, so it doesn’t matter.” Shiro stated while everyone else nodded in a silent agreement. 

Lance gasped at Shiro’s notion that it didn’t matter, because to him it clearly did. It always did when it came to Keith. He looked over at Keith, who almost looked like he was starting to not care anymore. The silence dawned on them, which was really unsettling after it being completely loud due to the boys. 

“Jeez, you guys really put a show on this time around for sure.” Pidge snorted, not able to contain his laughter any longer. “I bet you guys couldn’t go for more than a day without bickering at each other.”

Light sparked in Lance’s eyes, and he gave that some thought. “Well, _actually_ I think it would be pretty easy.”

Keith side-eyed Lance at his comment, completely astounded that he was taking Pidge seriously when he said that. He was done with this--both Lance and this conversation and threw himself on Pidge’s empty bed. 

“I guess you’re right.” Pidge recalculated and thought it over, leaning back against his chair. 

Eventually an evil grin formed on their face, which caused Shiro to place his palm on his face, knowing that this couldn’t be good. Not one bit. He wasn’t condoning this, so he too, moved away from where Lance stood to find a seat. 

“So finals are coming up, and you know what’s after that?” Pidge asked, his smirk ever so slightly frightening Lance. 

His eyes looked sharply to the right, away from Pidge, thinking. “Uhh… winter break?”

“Exactly,” Pidge moved his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I bet that you and Keith couldn’t get through, I’ll say, two weeks of winter break together.”

Keith’s ears perked at the sound of his name, groaning because that typically meant his attention was required. _Please leave me out from whatever you’re talking about. Let me sleep._

“Okay?” Lance squinted, somewhat confused. “Where exactly though? Here on campus for two weeks? At my place?”

“Well, Lance, I’m glad you asked. Hunk, Shiro, do you have any ideas before I throw out mine?” Pidge looked over at those two, who were quite content not being a part of whatever Pidge was planning.

Hunk was the first that wanted to talk--he rose his arm up, as though he were in class. Pidge picked him, since well, Shiro didn’t look like participating at all. 

“Ooh! Okay, so maybe they could go on vacation together? That’s what people do on break anyway right?” Hunk offered, his bushy eyebrows up while he explained himself. 

“Hey, not bad at all,” Pidge sounded very impressed, mainly because Hunk’s idea was much better than his own. He took a deep breath and then stated, “I bet that you and Keith couldn’t get through two weeks of being on vacation together. The vacation spot can be anywhere, multiple places even, but it has to be outside of this state obviously. You can call it a road trip of some sort.”

“Wait _what?!_ ” Keith had actually started to pay attention right when Pidge began to talk again. Was the sleep deprivation getting to him? Did he hear Pidge correctly? He propped himself up to properly see everyone.

“Road trip, huh? You’re on.” Lance agreed immediately, “What happens if I win?”

That stumped Pidge a little, although he should’ve known that Lance would want something for winning. “Okay, so if you both end up winning the bet, then I’ll do both of your homework for a month. Obviously if one of you guys blow up or end up leaving and going back home, then the bet is off and you guys lose. And if you guys lose, then you guys have to help me out test running my gadgets whenever I want for a month. Sound like a deal?”

“Deal.” Lance agreed, never breaking eye contact from Pidge, despite Keith’s sudden outburst. 

“No! Hell _no!_ ” Keith got up from the bed altogether, amazed that absolutely no one took what he had to say into consideration. 

“When’s the first day of the bet?” Lance asked Pidge, who answered almost immediately.

“First day of winter break.”

“Gotcha.”

“Okay but consider this: Absolutely and indefinitely no.” Keith said, thinking about all the horrors of being alone with Lance for two weeks. He would die. Either Lance would die or he would die. Someone would die, he knew that for sure. He could barely take his presence now, and they haven’t been around each other all that long for today. What makes Lance so confident that they would actually win this thing? 

“Keith, this might be a good thing for the two of you. Lately all you guys do is fight, and maybe after this, you guys might settle your differences and cease the fighting.” Shiro explained to him, enlightening them on this situation. That perhaps, that could be an alternative ending to this horrible disaster of a bet that Keith could possibly agree to. 

Instead, Keith began to laugh at Shiro’s statement simply because of the way he said it. Imagining a world where he would actually get along with Lance is like imagining a world where unicorns exist, and as an extra, they poop rainbows. Like hell he would ever get along with Lance. Sure, sometimes, (and the word “sometimes” felt like an overstatement) he would get along with Lance. But that was on a blue moon--rare.

“What? Afraid to lose or something, Keith?” Lance taunted him, crossing his arms as a smirk crossed his face. 

Keith’s eyes travelled towards Lance, who looked 90% serious, and 10% annoyed. His laughter ceased at that question, dumbfounded that he even said something like that. It wasn't a matter of winning or losing, but how long he could actually last with Lance by himself. That wasn't plausible, in his mind, because Lance was oil and he was water--they just didn't mix. 

“I’m not afraid to lose. I just think it’s stupid, is all.” Keith trailed off, completely uninterested in this idea now. “Why are we here anyways? Weren’t we all here for a reason, Pidge?”

“I’ll get to that as soon as you agree to do this bet. Like Shiro stated, I think it would be very beneficial. And entertaining. But mostly beneficial, of course.” Pidge shared, his eyes hiding beneath the glare of his glasses. “Of course, I understand that maybe this task would be a little too difficult for someone like yourself.”

It was as though a guitar string had snapped, except that guitar string was the final straw of logic that was just tossed out the window. Keith looked around at everyone--Hunk, Shiro, Pidge--and then he looked at Lance. _Fuck Lance. Do they all seriously think I can’t do it?_ How hard could it actually be? No one said he had to talk to Lance during this road trip. He just had to be in the same vicinity as him. For two weeks though? 

_Shit,_ was he actually considering this now? 

Keith found himself cursing under his breath. He currently hated everyone for this, because he knew the amount of regret that would follow. But he’ll prove to everyone that he isn’t scared to be with Lance for two weeks if this is what it was about. If anyone should be scared, it should be Lance. 

_That lanky dumbass doesn’t know what he just got himself into._

Keith’s expression turned dark, his brows furrowed and his words cold. He raised a finger at him, catching his full attention. “Listen, you better pack extra diapers while we’re on this damn road trip. Because if you shit your pants while I’m around, I’m not helping you clean it up.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had an 8 hour shift today and I stayed up to finalize this chapter. Enjoy~

Winter break crept up on Keith faster than he would have liked it to. Strange how before the bet ensued, he had been looking forward to it, imagining his break peaceful, quiet, and well, alone in his dorm room. He had assumed Lance, Pidge, Shiro, and Hunk would go back to their homes for the holidays as they always did every year. Never did Keith imagined in a thousand years that he would be spending his break with...him.

Keith finished packing his things up--one duffel bag contained his clothes and in his backpack contained his toiletries, a portable charger, and anything else that he thought that would be useful to bring. Before leaving his room, ever so reluctantly at that, he made sure the bathroom light was off, any utilities that were still on, off. This was the first time leaving his room for an extended period within the year, so he didn’t think he was being too careful. Or maybe, he was just in no rush to meet Lance up outside.

 

\--

 

_Where the heck is Lance?_

He waited with his belongings on the sidewalk next to the main parking lot, where Lance had informed Keith that he would be there at _“Ten o’clock sharp”_. It was about twenty minutes after ten, and his low supply of patience was already running out. Standing outside with two travelling bags made him look like an idiot already. He felt eyes on him when cars would pass him by, causing him to tap his foot unconsciously. On one hand, yes, he didn’t want Lance to ever show up so that he could go back inside and sleep. But on the other hand, Keith had agreed on a bet that he would see through.

_So where was he?_

Keith didn’t have to look around to find Lance when he did show up. His god-awful, loud motor that chirped loudly was enough to give away his location. When he pulled up next to him, the noise was enough to graze his ears. The small, red 1997 Toyota Tercel of his looked far too fragile to be bringing along for this road trip. In fact, he was convinced that the car had a hard time getting to where Keith stood already.

_Great._ Not like the two had much of a choice anyway. Keith didn’t even own a car, so this would have to do.

“You can put your stuff in here,” Lance directed him to the back of the car, popping the trunk open for him.

Keith couldn’t understand how Lance wasn’t fazed by the stench of gasoline that this thing emitted. Especially at the exhaust, was where the smell was the strongest. That definitely wasn’t normal, but because it was such an old car, it wasn’t a surprise.

Keith walked over to the passenger side to open the door, and once he did, he threw himself in. The car’s suspensions ( which handled sudden bumps on the road or unexpected weight shift) was complete shit. It wasn’t stable at all, because when he had sat down on the seat, the car shifted majorly from the sudden weight. He could only look over at Lance, who first sat down on the driver’s seat before realizing that Keith had been side eyeing him.

“What?”

“Dude, your car…” Keith trailed off when he noticed that the fabric of his seat belt was also a bit torn and worn out. He didn’t know where to begin...

“Isn’t it the cutest car ever?” Lance’s eyes lit up, explaining to Keith just how he got a hold of it. Last year, he saw it sitting on a lot of a car dealer, and according to Lance, the car looked lonely--in need of a companion. He described it as if the car had never been used before he got it, when obviously (unless Lance had accumulated all of those miles going around the country ten times) it was used. Very used.

The fact that Lance had used the word _“cute”_ to describe this piece of junk had him still stumped. He had a difficult time understanding just how he saw any beauty in this shitty ass car. Then again, this was Lance. _Typical._

Lance pulled out from the parking lot and Keith saw that he was beginning to make his way towards Interstate 85. It was one of California’s main highways that could pretty much shoot them out of here to Nevada if they kept going far enough.

Hitting the gas, the little car began to shake once it hit the threshold of 50 mph. It honestly freaked Keith out a bit because it felt like the car was going to fall apart at any given moment. He bit his tongue slowly to ease the nerves that were beginning to unfold. His hands unconsciously made their way to grip the sides of his seat, and then the door handle, and then Lance’s shoulder, which didn’t seem to bother Lance since he was too occupied on trying to merge into the highway.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Keith thought to ask, just in case. In fact, they never briefed on where exactly they would be heading to.

“Isn’t that the beauty of going on a road trip? Not having a destination and all?” Lance told him in the most angelic voice he could find. Keith wasn’t convinced, not one bit.

“No,” Keith began, “I mean, yes, but under these circumstances, no. We have to leave the state first for any of this to count, remember?”

“Oh right, right.”

After that exchange, Keith noticed that the car either ceased shaking or he got used to it. Whatever it was, it made him less nauseous and more calm if anything. So he let his body sink into the seat, arms crossed and head resting on the hard window that subtly vibrated. He assumed Lance knew what he was doing, and as long as he drove them both outside of the state, then it was safe to sit back like this and let Lance do the work.

 

\--

 

Now earlier that day, it was all fine. It was a smooth start (or well, as smooth as it was going to get) to their journey, surprisingly. Keith was amazed at how quiet it had been at first, and it might have been because he ended up dozing off from time to time, which didn’t allow for much room to talk. This had convinced Keith a little that they might end up actually winning this stupid bet if they kept it up like this.

But oh how the peace, the quietness, had ceased all too soon. Two hours in, record-breaking time of silence with no bickering between the two, before Lance had decided to turn up his favorite radio station. And to make matters worse, he sang along to almost all of the songs that played on it. It was cringe worthy, to say the least.

“ **_She got a body like an hourglass, but I can give it to you all the time,_ **

**_She got a booty like a Cadillac, but I can send you into overdrive!”_ **

Keith groaned in response, looking away so that Lance was completely out of his peripheral vision.

**_“Bang bang into the roof (I know you want it), Bang Bang all over you (I’ll let you have it)”_ **

“End me, please.” Keith muttered, having the urge to shove whatever he could into his ears in order to prevent the horrible noise from tearing his eardrums. It was then he remembered seeing Lance place a pillow in the back seat along with a couple of light blankets. He seized the opportunity and reached over to grab the pillow before it would be too late.

Keith took no more of his time and quickly wrapped the pillow around his head, shielding his ears with a lot of pressure. If the pillow he had grabbed wasn’t so flat to begin with, then perhaps the noise would be at least somewhat blocked out. But no, he might as well not have anything on his ears at all. Lance saw what he was doing because he stopped singing and turned down the radio.

_Thank god_ , Keith sighed in relief.

“Is someone getting tired?” Lance jabbed, seeing the irritation in Keith’s eyes and furrowed eyebrows when he asked him that. _As always, right on the ball,_ Keith thought sarcastically.

“Yeah, getting tired of your singing and this music.” Keith retorted, folding the pillow in half to get some cushion before placing it in the space between his head and the window. Earlier when he rested only on the window, it had hurt his head.

“Hey! Don’t defile Nicki Minaj’s music. She is queen.” Lance informed Keith as though he had just committed a great sin. He figured to back off seeing as there was no point in complaining further about his music taste. It was Lance after all.

“Fine,” Keith rolled his eyes in contempt, focusing on the long road ahead of them. “Just stop singing then.”

“This is my car, meaning I can do what I want. Plus, you aren’t talking much, so the silence was making me yawn a lot.”

The last part ringed in Keith’s mind, surprised he even said that. What? Was he supposed to talk to him? _Of course not_ , he didn’t have to do anything. In this way, he thought little to no talking was better. It kept all the fighting at bay, which meant less headaches for him. So why was Lance pointing that out?

“See! You aren’t talking.”

“I don’t have to talk to you. Pidge never said I had to talk to you while we’re on this thing.” Keith explained it in a “as-a-matter-of-fact” sort of tone.

There was a pause, and a noticeable one too, before Lance spoke up again. “Well, I just thought changing things up a bit would be a good thing. But I guess if you want to swim in your emo thoughts, then go ahead.”

“ _I’m not-!_ ” Keith sat up from the pillow when he heard him use that word, “I’m not emo.”

Lance snorted, “Okay, Mr. _I-would-rather-listen-to-My-Chemical-Romance-than-Nicki-Minaj._ ”

He couldn’t formulate a response to that, astonished at his implications. Just because he listened to them didn’t mean he was... _emo._

“Whatever.” Keith muttered, crossing his arms as he further contemplated this matter. _Okay so I wear black alot too, but that doesn’t make me emo. Lance doesn’t know what he’s talking about._

“See! Now you’re brooding.”

“Pay attention to the road instead of me, idiot!” For good measure, Keith buried his face into the pillow, turned away this time so Lance wouldn’t find something else to insult him about.

\--

At about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, they had made a quick pit stop in the small city of Truckee, CA. Lance knew that they were merely miles away from reaching the Nevada border, but he had to stop there for two reasons. One, he was hungry and he figured Keith was too. And two, he was running out of gas. So he figured to kill two birds with one stone and take care of it now rather than later.

There was a sign that indicated a gas station attached to a McDonald’s, so he took the exit and went straight for it. After being at a steady 65 mph, the car began to stutter ever so slightly when Lance began to slow down, making Keith obviously nervous as he took a hold at anything around him once again.

Lance couldn’t help but notice Keith’s slight fear every time his car did something it wasn’t supposed to. He couldn’t blame his car though, because as much as he hated to admit it, it was kind of old. Old, yes, but alive and well. He would know because he maintains the car every so often. I mean, there were a couple of car parts that could be replaced here and there, but nothing too major.

Truckee was relatively small compared to the massive cities they’ve been with their large skyscrapers and endless car horn sounds. Additionally, the air and environment looked a lot nicer. The tall evergreen trees that peeked over the small, house-like buildings that lined up the roads added a nice touch to the scenery. Everything here looked simple, which added a refreshing tone to it.

Lance pulled up to the gas station and parked right next to one of the pumping stations. Keith took this opportunity to get out from the car and stretch, and boy was it needed. He felt like he was one of those clowns that stuffed themselves in those tiny cars. Except the clowns never looked like they were in pain, unlike him right now. His knees ached from being bent for so long.

“Oh man,” Keith muttered as he let the air between his bones out--the noise from it grossing Lance out to the extreme. Keith watched Lance shiver and completely lose it.

“Gross, gross, gross,” Lance began to say, “There’s no way you’re human.”

“It’s just air that gets trapped in between your joints, relax.” Keith tried explaining, but Lance didn’t it buy it one bit. He kept his back to him, trying to put his one-hundred percent focus anywhere else but Keith. Obviously, it didn’t work.

Because Lance paid at the pumping station first rather than pumping gas first, and then running inside to go pay for it, it was cleared to go ahead and eat now. Ripping the receipt out from the pumping station, he opened the door and sat back inside. Keith followed suit, buckling in.

“No need for that, I’m just parking up here since there’s food literally in front of us.” Lance told him while turning the ignition on; The engine at first sounded like it wouldn’t turn on, like a lag almost. But then the engine roared, making the car vibrate because of it.

“I’m aware. You’re car isn’t exactly in top shape so I can’t take any chances.” Keith explained, checking his side window out of habit.

Lance snorted, finding it funny at Keith’s downright phobia of his car. It hasn’t been all that long that he’s been inside his car and he already had a solid judgement on it. In fact, this was the first time he’s been inside his car. Lance couldn’t recall any times where he had willingly invited Keith into his car to go somewhere. This could very well explain why he had no problem getting inside of his car earlier this morning. He had no idea.

They both ordered their food and then found a booth to sit at. Keith was the first to sit down, while Lance placed his food down across from him and left to go get napkins and ketchup for their fries. On his way back to the booth, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Fitting everything onto one hand, he used his free hand to dig down his pocket and grab his phone, realizing that it was his mom calling.

“Hello?” Lance felt the ketchup sliding since he placed them on the napkin. Quickly, he placed his phone on his shoulder and then with his shoulder, he brought the phone up to his ear. It was a close call, but he was able to catch the ketchup just in time. He mentally patted himself on the back for that. He also wished someone saw that since he thought it was pretty cool.

_“¡Hola mijo! Que te pasa, eh? Ninguna llamada, ni tan siquiera un mensaje…”_

Lance regretted having his phone up all the way, because his mother loved to speak right up and close on her phone. Thankfully, he was at the booth, so he quickly set the napkins and ketchup down before almost letting them drop once again.

“I’m sorry, ma-” Lance couldn’t even finish his sentence because his mother was back at it again.

_“¡Que sorry ni que nada! Te olvidas de tu pobre madre, ah?”_

Lance sighed while he sitting down in front of his food, regretting not texting her in the morning that they were departing campus. She always got this way when he didn’t text her every so often. “No, no! I haven’t forgotten about you, ma, I’ve just been…”

He paused, noticing Keith who was on the verge of laughing because he knew exactly who was on the other side of the line. Plus, Keith could hear her. Lance threw him a look that could kill him, and he took that as a warning sign, so he focused back on eating his food.

“...driving. You know I can’t text and drive, ma.”

_“¡Siempre son excusas contigo! Es milagro que te cache ahorita. No estás manejando verdad?”_

Lance’s mom caught him at that, cursing himself for not thinking this one through. He understood very well that they were taking a break from the road, and he didn’t even think to call her. This one was his fault.

“No…”

_“Aha, ya vez…Bueno, solo te llamaba para ver como estaban los dos...”_

When Lance’s mom asked how they were doing, he told her that things were actually going pretty well in his book. He explained where they went and that now they were grabbing something to eat. But of course, he told her that they had ate breakfast, because he knew that if he hadn’t mentioned that part, then he would get an earful for sure.

_“Ahh, bueno pues. Estoy alegre que todo va bien. Estaba preocupada…”_

Lance reassured her that everything would be fine, that she didn’t have to worry and all. His mom reminded him that it was only in her nature to worry, considering he was driving far away from home and anything could happen. She told him that he had to be prepared for anything, because the future wasn’t set in stone. That prompted him to tell her that he knew all of that, and that he appreciated her for calling and once again, apologized for not calling earlier.

_“Bueno hijo, te dejo comer. Me llamas mas al rato, okay?”_

Lance promised her that he would call her back at night, to which she told him that he better. They said their goodbyes and then hung up. He took the most exaggerated deep breath, or Keith thought so anyway, after he watched him hang up.

“Aww, someone’s mom is worried,” Keith began, watching Lance get embarrassed fast due to the reddening of his cheeks.

“Hop off, man. And for the record, she was worried about the both of us.” Lance corrected him, taking a bite of his burger.

_Both of us?_ Keith repeated that phrase in his head, and every time he did, it sounded weirder and weirder. “Sorry, she’s worried about me? I don’t even know her.”

“Doesn’t matter, trust me,” Lance spoke with his mouth full, making it harder to comprehend him. He gulped and took a sip of his soda before continuing any further. “Point is, she was actually worried about the both of us--yes you included. That was my fault though, for not calling her earlier.” He trailed off, going back at his food, more specifically his fries.

Keith looked down at his food and for some reason, it didn’t look appetizing anymore. For now, he was full. He didn’t think it had anything to do with Lance’s mother, but a small part of him told him that it did. It bothered him, somewhat, that a complete stranger--Lance’s mother--was actually worried about him. He couldn’t place his finger on why it bothered him, which made it all the more confusing. Keith decided to just stop thinking about it, and that maybe this feeling would go away.

“Are you going to finish your fries?” Lance asked, pointing at his half-empty red cartridge of fries.

Keith simply slid them towards Lance, who took that as a green light that he could have them. Lance wasted no time in indulging those too--then again, both of them didn’t have breakfast this morning, or well, he assumed Lance hadn’t from the way he was eating.

Resting his chin on the palm of his hand, he chose to look out the window as he waited for Lance to finish eating. Outside, he noticed a family getting out from their van while, who he assumed to be, their dad went to go pump some gas. There were two little boys who looked like twins, and one little girl, who all ran around the van towards their dad. Keith could tell that their mom wasn’t too happy about them running around the van like that, and verbally told them to get back inside the van.

His attention then turned to a dog that kept barking inside one of the cars parked. It was his pet peeve when owners left their dogs inside a hot car. But in this circumstance, the windows were a quarter way down, so it didn’t alarm Keith. He tried to guess what kind of dog it was...and yeah, he couldn’t. It was small and fluffy, yet vicious. It couldn’t be a chihuahua? Chihuahuas were vicious, but not fluffy? Or were some fluffy? This bothered him to the core.

“Hey, you alright? You left half of your burger.” Lance pointed out, squinting his eyes as though he was trying to read him.

“I’m just not hungry anymore.” Keith replied, looking back at Lance who looked like he was done because all that was left was the wrappers.

Lance didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t press it either. “Alright, well let’s get back at it.”  

They both got up and threw away their garbage before exiting the fast food chain. Lance picked at his pocket, searching for the keys as he made his way to his side of the car. Keith waited on his side of the car, waiting for Lance to manually unlock the door. Yes, his car was that old.

When Lance was taking too long, Keith looked over at the family, and more specifically at where the crying was coming from. He saw the mother crouched down, eye-level with her daughter, who must’ve fallen on the concrete because she kept pointing at her scraped knee. Keith then saw the twins climbing inside the van before one of their toys fell off the van and began to roll away. As expected, one of the little boys noticed and ran to go pick it up.

It was a toy ball that was headed towards the street since the lot of the gas station was at a slope when one would pull in. Almost like there was some sort of switch inside his head, he didn’t even think about it--Keith bolted for the little boy before he could reach the street.

“Shit!” Was the last thing Lance heard Keith say before watching him dart across the gas station at an unbelievable speed. The adrenaline pumped into his veins, causing his heart to beat twice as fast and his instincts even sharper. Unconsciously, it helped him retain his concentration on one thing: saving the boy.

It didn’t feel like his feet were connecting with the concrete underneath him, almost like he was flying. Everything around him was blurry, his eyes fixed on the boy and the oncoming truck he saw that didn’t look like stopping. He had to go faster, and he pushed himself to do it because he wasn’t going to let this happen. Not under his watch.

“Keith! W-wait!” Lance called out, reaching out for him in order to prevent him from running into the street like a maniac. It was a lame attempt because Keith had already gotten a head start, knowing fully well that if they had started at the same time, he would’ve caught up with him.

As soon as he ran into the street, the white Ford truck had noticed him, but obviously not the kid, and honked his horn at him as his brakes screeched. The loud horn was enough to scare the boy, and then he noticed Keith running up towards him. In one swift motion, he swooped up the boy into his arms and continued to run until they were off of the street.

It was as if Lance was invisible to him, nonexistent. Despite the truck coming, he didn’t let that stop him from reaching the child, successfully saving him from a terrible accident. Once he saw that Keith and the child were out from danger’s way, Lance slowed down, stopping at the other side of the street. The next sight he saw made him stop and stare.

Keith cradled the child, holding him tightly as he tumbled down onto the grass. Even after their fall, he continued to hold onto him as if he were the most fragile thing in the world. That was when he heard a woman scream behind him, breaking his attention from this.

Lance turned around and saw the mother running towards her son with her two kids. She had her hand placed on her mouth, in disbelief and shock at all of this. Her eyes began to tear up, but as soon as she saw that her child was in one piece, she blinked away the tears. She too, passed Lance as though he were not there, walking towards Keith and her child.

When everything settled and Keith was aware of his surroundings, he felt a wave of relief. They were alright. He was alright. However Keith ended up landing on his behind from the slippery grass. He gripped the child tightly, making sure he wouldn’t get hurt from the fall. He wasn’t aware that he wasn’t on concrete anymore, and in fact on grass that was wet from earlier rain. The fall was enough to send pain shooting up his spine; Keith held back the urge to curse, since there was a child right there.

 A sound had caught his attention; he heard a woman cry out from across the street before watching her run towards them at her pace with her two children since the father was still inside. The boy began to cry and he figured it was because of how quick everything had happened: Keith running at him, the loud horn, his mother crying out. At this point, Keith didn’t know what to think or do to calm the child down.

 The driver of the truck got out and began to apologize, not knowing that the child was out on the street. However, Keith ignored him and got up along with the child, noticing that the mother was on her way towards them. There was a sharp pain that made itself known again when he tried getting up, causing him to grit his teeth and give up on trying to get up for the time being.

 “Oh my god, honey, are you okay?!” The mother asked desperately as the kid got up from Keith’s grasp to run towards her. Keith saw her checking him everywhere, for any scratches or bruises of any kind. But she saw nothing, and heard her sigh in relief. “I’m so sorry for leaving you out from my sight.” After giving her son the biggest bear hug, she turned to Keith and gave him the most thankful smile she possibly could, “Thank you so much. You saved my son’s life.”

 Keith expected her to walk away at this point, but instead she walked towards him, crouched down, and hugged him too. His eyes widened at the sudden gesture, the redness on his cheeks spreading far too quickly before he could comprehend what was happening. It was a foreign gesture--he only thought he was doing the right thing. He didn’t deserve this person’s gratitude or whatever _this_ was.

 “N-not a problem,” Was all Keith could manage out. The mother pulled away from the hug and quickly got up. He watched them cross the street to meet up with her confused husband, probably wondering what had happened.

A shadow was casted on him, catching his attention quickly. He looked up next to him and saw that it was Lance, who looked genuinely worried about him. The sight was also foreign, not seeing Lance in this light many times.

“Dude, are you alright?” Lance asked him, his eyes travelling all around him as though he were analyzing him in his own Lance-kind-of-way. And when he said it wasn’t natural, he meant Lance’s concern directed towards him rather than in general. It wasn’t normal. “Y-you were back there, a-a-and then suddenly you went _woosh!_ And _now_...” He used outrageous arm gestures when explaining what he saw, looking like a clown to the general public--or well, to Keith at least.

Keith began to wave him off, hoping it would end his antics. He tried to get up a second time on his own, but he couldn’t without the sharp pain jabbing at his back. He winced, trying to suppress the pain on the exterior in an attempt to not make anyone worried. This was about the child being safe now, not about him.

The hand that was held out in front of him seized his thoughts. He looked up at Lance to see if he looked crazy or if he was joking. But he saw none of that. Did Keith want to take his hand? No. But did he have much of a choice? Not really. His stubbornness kept him staring Lance’s hand rather than ever taking it.

“Come on, Keith, you know you are want to. Think of it as a limited offer,” Lance told him, squiggling his eyebrows at the same time as though this was the best deal he was going to get today. He earned a surprising smirk on Keith’s face, finding this all too much.

He caved and took his hand. Only this one time, he would.

Grasping Lance’s hand, he pulled him up with ease. Sure it still hurt, but it felt like ripping off a bandaid because once he was completely up, the pain had subsided. Finding this the perfect opportunity to begin walking, he took a couple steps forward. The pain he felt was at bay, ever so slightly noticeable. He felt Lance’s prying eyes on him, in case he’d take a tumble or something. Of course, Keith didn’t let that happen.

At Keith’s pace, they slowly walked back to Lance’s shitty small car. Strangely enough, it looked really nice to just sit down and rest in for the next couple of hours. His behind would need the recovery time surely. The first thing Keith would grab from the backseat of the car would be an actual pillow, and not some flat piece of fabric like the one he had before (because it definitely did not earn the title of a pillow under his book).

“Wait! You’re going to get the grass stain all over it…” Keith’s butt was mere inches away from touching the pillow he had placed on the seat when Lance said that, letting out a groan as a protest. He threw his hand onto the roof of the car and heaved himself up and out from the car.

Looking down at the front part of his dark blue jeans, he saw nothing. Twisting his torso to take a look at the back of his jeans, where the stains would most likely be, he still saw nothing. Lance walked around the car, probably noticing that Keith had a hard time locating the grass stain.

“Right here,” Lance, ever so reluctantly, directed Keith on where the stain was. His finger floated a fraction of an inch away from it, looking away because this was obviously becoming very awkward for him.

“Damn, you must’ve been looking at my ass long enough to find it because I sure as hell can’t.” Keith blurted, earning a punch on the arm from Lance.

“Why would you say that?! It’s not like- _It’s not like it’s an itty-bitty stain or anything!_ ” Lance was clearly agitated. Keith was completely oblivious to this one bit due to his back turned to him, but his face had turned completely red. Because of that, Lance marched back to the trunk of the car and popped it open. He opened Keith’s duffel bag and began to sift through his clothes to find a pair of clean jeans. Once he did, he held it out for Keith to grab, “Here, just go change.”

He heard Keith mutter protests under his breath before extracting the pants out from his grasp and disappear into the gas station to go change. Lance took a deep breath once he knew he was alone, then shortly after, closed the trunk. He sat inside the car and decided to turn on the car and sift through the different radio stations to pass time while Keith changed.

It didn’t take long before Keith was back inside the car. After throwing his rolled up, dirty pair of jeans into the back of the car, he got himself situated on the pillow he provided for himself, letting out a deep breath once he found that comfortable position.

He looked over at Lance, who was being strangely quiet upon his arrival. He guessed it was because he had expected him to say something, like always. Lance always had something to say to him, even during times when it wasn’t needed. Then again, Lance was very occupied, fidgeting with the radio that only seemed to play radio talk shows.

Lance threw his head back, “There’s no music on any of these stations!”

“Wow...that _sure_ is a shame, huh? I was really looking forward to more of, um,” Keith began out sarcastic until he got stumped on the name of the artist Lance had called “queen” earlier today. He cursed under his breath, a couple of names coming up in his mind. “Mickey Nava? Nicki...Manage?”

Lance threw him a disappointing look, simultaneously placing his hand on Keith’s shoulder as though he was about to consult him. _“Nicki Minaj.”_

“I was close,” Keith thought, taking it as a little victory, but boy did Lance think the contrary of that.

He snorted, making fun of Keith’s clouded judgement. “Not even! Mickey Nava? _Really?_ That sounds like a magician of some sort!”

“Okay whatever. I guess no more Nicki Minaj, right?” Keith had to ask, returning to their previous topic before the table got turned on him. Lance’s eyes lit up at that question, almost like he had just formed an idea. _Not good_ , Keith thought.

“Actually! I think I’ve got an aux cord laying somewhere around here…” Lance trailed off, leaning over and rummaging into Keith’s leg space for the cord. Keith clicked his tongue, moving over his legs before he would.

_Please don’t find it...please don’t find it...PLEASE don’t find it…_

“I found it! Yes, Keith this is definitely your lucky day bro. I have her Pink Friday album, deluxe version of course, all downloaded on my phone and-” Lance took a deep breath, getting emotional that he had this great opportunity to share it with Keith. Once again, he placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder, and whispered, “We’re going to have a great time.”

Keith thought that Lance must’ve mistakenly took him seriously. He didn’t actually want to listen to any more of her music. _Was he that dense?_ However, Keith almost felt bad if he protested against it simply because of how passionate Lance looked when he spoke about it. He shook off the hand placed on his shoulder though, not needing the extra mile Lance was throwing there. He crossed his arms and simply said, “Alright, fin-”

Lance threw a hand in front of his face, successfully shutting Keith up. He connected his phone to the car and wasted no time in starting up the music. And once it did, the speakers in his car roared, the bass vibrating the car much more than it was necessary. Keith would be lying if he said that it didn’t make his heart jump.

“I’m putting this thing on shuffle, because let’s face it, the surprise of which song’s going to play is pretty exciting.” Lance announced over the music, the track changing immediately as soon as he hit the shuffle button. This time the song was more gentle, or well, it started out gentle. Keith couldn’t guarantee himself that it would stay like that.

_“I drove for miles, just to find you and find myself...”_

_“...This time won’t you save me, Baby I can feel myself giving up, Giving up...”_

Lance pulled out from the parking lot and cruised down the road until he found an entrance back onto the highway. Keith couldn’t keep his eyes off from his rear side window, watching that gas station in particular grow smaller and smaller until it was out from his view. Keith rested his head upon the pillow in between him and the window again, his eyes glued on the evergreen trees that surrounded them.

Leaving the full evergreens woods that surrounded that small city of Truckee came nothing but a simple two-way highway road with these small mountains surrounding them like walls. The evergreen trees out here somehow lived on top of these dry, grassy hills. The more trees there were, the fuller--more alive appearance the terrain gave. Keith took note at how the road had somehow elevated from ground level, and he only realized this because when he looked over the highway’s metallic fence, there was train tracks just below that seemed to go on forever.

“How are you feeling, by the way?” The question seemed to come out from nowhere for Keith. Taking a couple of moments to process that question, he mentally hit himself for wondering why he was asking that like an idiot, because of, _well_ \--what happened earlier.

“I’m fine, I guess.” Keith answered, shifting his position a bit on his seat. His bottom didn’t hurt as much as before, so that was a good sign.

Lance hummed, feeling relieved that there were no repercussions after the fall he had, even if it was worded in Keith’s own way, simplistic way. Nonetheless, it was enough for him. He would be lying if he said that what Keith pulled back there didn’t frighten him. One second he was there, waiting to get inside the car with him, and then the next second-- _gone_. He remembered being confused, wondering why Keith was running, or for that matter, where he was running to. Knowing very well at the time that Keith wouldn’t just run for no good reason, that alone was a good basis to follow him. It had all freaked him out in the beginning that he had even left his keys inserted in the door before running after Keith like a madman.

The one image that so far has made itself unforgettable was when he watched Keith cradle that child like it was the most important thing in the world. It made his heart skip a beat, a tiny bit of sadness creeping in. There was just a tiny ounce of fear in Keith’s face that seemed to stick out to Lance, a while after this had all unfolded. It had stuck out and bothered him, like he had something on his face that he couldn’t quite take it off. Fear didn’t suit Keith’s temperament. He figured it was nothing at the time, and that maybe it was because of _how close_ that truck was at colliding with that child. _It might’ve shook him up a bit_ , he thought.

“Way to start off this thing, huh?” Lance joked around, hoping to make Keith laugh a little. He heard him chuckle softly, an indication that things might be alright.

Keith’s small laughter quickly died, taking a deep breath before answering. “Unforgettable if anything.”

“Wait until I tell my mom tonight that you were a hero-er, wait--maybe I shouldn’t? That would worry her out, wouldn’t it?” Lance backtracked immediately after throwing out that suggestion, knowing that his mom would be more worried than proud. She would probably ask Lance to turn the car around and come back home

Keith began to laugh again, this time harder. “Telling your mom was your first thought?”

Lance briefly looked over at Keith, who couldn’t contain himself. Watching him laugh at him made his face turn bright red, puffing his cheeks as he began to protest. “ _No?!_ I mean-I already _have to_ call her tonight so like…I was thinking, _‘Hey why not?’_ , but then…”

The amount of explaining that Lance had to do didn’t help his case one bit, causing Keith to be very entertained. He almost wanted him to stop talking, but he couldn’t stop laughing so it only snowballed from there.

If Lance’s face had a limit as to how red it could actually get, then he was hitting his limit. He hated to admit it but as hard as it was to believe, he was actually pretty close to his family. All he has ever done on his winter breaks throughout the past years was spend time with his family. And because he was on ‘Winter Break Mode’ now, all he thought about was them. _How embarrassing,_ Lance thought. He had to go out more because this was clearly an indication of being too boxed in into his family’s world.

“Cut me some slack...I’m always with them when I’m not in school.” Lance finally said, shamefaced for being made fun of for something like this. Lance was almost 20... _20._ He was practically an adult and yet-

Keith raised his hands, “Hey man, you sort of dug yourself this one.”

“Come on’ Keith…” Lance muttered, in utter defeat because he was totally right, something that he would never admit out loud. He should really stop thinking outloud.

His laughing fit went away slowly, regaining some level of seriousness. “From what I know about her, yeah, that would worry her. Best to not tell her about it until you’re back home.”

“Or ever…”Lance added, thinking that maybe that was for the best. He just thought that, in some weird, twisted, way--what Keith did earlier today, he thought it was cool. It was cool in his book, and someone should know about it. That someone just so happened to be his mom--who just so happened to be the first person he thought about.

After their small conversation had faded away, Keith began thinking about what happened back at the gas station again--how he was somehow able to save that boy’s life without even having a plan of action. He just...acted on it like it was on his shoulders--and that if something had happened to that boy under his watch, it would be on him.

There was something here that Keith couldn’t put a finger on, some underlying reason that bugged the living hell out of him. Was there some alternative reason as to why he did what he did? Because it sure felt like it, and it rocked his core to no end. It really... _bothered him._ But whatever underlying reason there was, he knew one thing for sure: If he were to restart his life and if things had been different, he hoped he would have done the exact same thing, to save that boy no matter what. But how could he be so sure?

Because he’s Keith, and that was enough to know for sure that that’s exactly what he would do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English Translation of Lance's mother in order:  
> -"Hello, son? What's happened to you, eh? No call, not even a message..."  
> -"No sorry no nothing! You forget about your poor mother, ah?"  
> -"Always with the excuses with you! It's a miracle that I caught you now. You're not driving right?"  
> -"Aha, you see...Well, I was only calling you to see how you both were doing..."  
> -"Ahh, good then. I'm happy that everything is going well. I was worried..."  
> -"Well son, I'll let you eat. Call me later, okay?"
> 
> (Note: some of the translations won't be like 100% perfect in english because there are just some things in spanish that doesn't translate perfectly to english rip but as long as you get the main jist than we good)
> 
> *My goal is to have weekly updates (unless i can get chapters done before that). But for now, weekly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick shout out to Jordyn (aka daamazingmeepers on here) for being amazing and offering to be my beta reader! ^u^ This is a really long chapter and I didn't mean for it to be but it just happened that way so with that being said enjoy!

_“The Biggest Little City in the World, huh?”_ Lance read the arch carefully before passing under it in this busy street. 

They were in Reno, Nevada, where it was Lance’s idea to take a break from the boring highway and see what was up in here instead of just passing it like every other place. Upon entering the city, Keith was quickly unimpressed at what he saw. Sure the place looked alive...or rather, too alive for its size, but he had a hard time understanding why. Maybe it was just his conception of cities to begin with.

Lance clicked his tongue, squinting as he tried to look around at all the skyscrapers, “I don’t get it.”

There was a long pause until Keith realized Lance kept looking over at him for an explanation of some sort. He had been zoning out, too busy studying the buildings they passed.

“Hm?” Keith was unsure at what Lance was getting at, his comment seeming random to him.

“This is obviously a big city considering its tall buildings, so why is it called a little city?”

 _“The Biggest Little City,”_ Keith reiterated, “Reno is supposed to be like a mini-version of an actual, big city like, I don’t know, Las Vegas, for example.”

“So like... _a baby city?”_

The wording on that was unexpected, but Keith rolled with it, “Sure.”

“But it’s not.”

“And that’s why I said ‘supposed to be’. Clearly there’s been a lot of expanding since they came up with that slogan…”

Lance decided to find a parking spot within the city and take a picture in front of that arch to the best of his ability. He claimed that because this was their first real landmark of their trip, he should take a picture of them in front of Reno’s arch. At first, Keith protested, not wanting his picture taken. But after some begging and pouting, Keith gave in reluctantly.

“No worries, these pictures will only be for Pidge, like for proof purposes.” Lance explained, while Keith’s expression turned dark, looking like he wanted to kick his ass for this.

“Does it have to be a picture of the both of us?” Keith grumbled, asking just in case. 

“Uh, yeah it does! How else will Pidge know?”

“I don’t know! Pidge is smart, so I’m pretty sure they’ll figure out that I was here with you through some weird techy shit they have!” Keith was convinced of that much, “Hell, they’re most likely looking at us through these street cameras or something!”

 _I know Pidge could somehow hack the street cameras of Reno because they were that smart. And I’m willing to bet that Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge were all just laughing at us like this was some sort of reality show._ Keith could totally see that. _Those jerks._

“Except you have no proof of that,” Lance raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying Keith’s theory.

“You seriously can’t tell me that they’re not watching us right now or something.” Keith stated, trying to sound as though this was one-hundred percent the case here. While Keith knew that Pidge was definitely capable of hacking these street cameras, he also wanted to have Lance believe it too. Because maybe that way, he might just back off the picture idea. 

“I never said that, I’m just saying that in order to get out of being Pidge’s guinea pigs for an entire month, we have to provide some type of proof.” Lance explained, actually having a solid argument for taking this picture. Keith was too stubborn to admit that he was right, so he silently gave in, moving next to him to take the picture.

When Lance saw Keith give in, he smirked and then held his phone in one hand, throwing the typical peace sign while Keith on the other hand had his arms crossed--not having this one bit. When Lance looked at the picture, he snorted.

“Let’s take another one, because seriously, you look like you’re going to murder someone in this,” Lance told him as he prepared to take the next picture. 

_Well, you wouldn’t be off there._

The second picture he took, Lance complained that Keith looked too annoyed. According to him, it was better than the first one, but he still looked like he wasn’t having a good time. He wondered why Lance was trying so hard to get a picture of him having fun, when clearly that wasn’t going to happen. That wasn’t part of his original explanation, otherwise right off the bat he would’ve declined taking any pictures. Why portray something that wasn’t true? This wasn’t fun to him, this was a bet. Nothing more, and nothing less.

“Okay, enough pictures! If it’s for Pidge, then they’ll clearly see that we’re in Reno.” Keith told him, putting a stop to what felt like a photoshoot where things just had to look perfect. The whole ordeal was beginning to become unbearable, especially in this wretched heat. In all honesty, the heat probably made him less tolerable of Lance’s wishes to take more pictures. 

“Alright, alright. I just thought it would be nice if we were both smiling…” Lance trailed off, putting his phone away. “Want to go get a small souvenir or something before we go?”

There was an itch to just get out of here, to keep driving, as if that would make this whole thing go by faster. Of course Keith knew that logic was flawed, but he couldn’t help feeling like that. That, and he still didn’t see anything appealing about this place to get some item to remember it. He figured he would wait in the car instead. 

“You can go get something if you want to, I’ll just wait in the car.” And like that, Keith began to walk away from Lance before he would beg him to stay or something, make an excuse of some sort in order to be his puppy and follow him around. However, Lance remained silent, and Keith was grateful for it. 

A very small part of him felt bad for leaving him there all alone, but another part told him not to care so much about it. It was only Lance, right?

Getting into the passenger side of the car, he left the car door open as a means to get fresh air inside since the car was already beginning to get hot. He checked the time on his phone and it was only 4:30 in the afternoon, causing him to groan. This day seemed so long that it pained him. He needed to pass time somehow, so he opened up his phone and thought to check his Pokemon Go app. _Yeah, there should be some pokemon around here for what it’s worth._ But the only remotely good thing around him that didn’t require him to get up and move about was an Eevee. He figured to catch it anyways since it counted for something. 

About a half hour passed before Lance showed himself again, climbing inside the driver’s seat. He carried a black bag with him, stuffing it in the back seat before turning on the car. Keith couldn’t help but be slightly curious as to what he brought back with him. _What would Lance buy anyway?_ , he asked himself. It was too late to look anywhere else before Lance noticed that he was looking at him.

There was slight sadness in his eyes that Keith hated himself for noticing just before turning away. Was it because he had left him alone back there? Probably. He took a deep breath, thinking that he should probably say something in order to not make this any more awkward than it needed to be. 

“What did you, uh, buy?”

Lance was surprised when he asked, looking back at the bag, “You want to take a look?”

Lance didn’t have to say anymore for Keith to reach back there to grab the bag. When he saw what was in there, he pulled it out from the bag in case he was seeing this correctly. _Nope. Lance actually got this. Fuck._

“A…” Keith cleared his throat, changed his tone to a better one, _“A red lion?”_

“Yeah…” Lance began, as he reached over to the back of his head to scratch it, his cheeks growing a rosy tint. “...I thought it looked pretty cool.”

Keith held the small, stuffed lion out next to his face, looking at its red mane and black beady eyes, and then looking back at Lance. He couldn’t help but laugh because of how random the souvenir he got was. Keith thought that maybe he had bought a mini version of the arch, or anything that had the word _‘Reno’_ on it. But no, _a red lion. Jesus Christ._

“What’s so funny?” Lance pouted, obviously offended at the sudden laughter.

“You-” Keith said, who couldn’t continue without falling back on his seat with the lion in his arms. “It’s just you. You’re so…”

“I’m so _what?_ ” Lance asked, waiting for what Keith had to say about him. He was so confused, wondering what triggered Keith to laugh like this. Minutes ago he wasn’t having a good time, and now-

“You’re just so... _I don’t know!_ ” Keith could find the proper word to describe him, giving up on ever finding one as long as he knew what he was talking about. “Oh and by the way, I’d say this lion looks pretty badass.”

The last part was enough for that light to return to Lance’s eyes, growing wildly confident at his choice like it was the natural thing to do. “Duh, of course it’s badass, that’s why I got it.”

Keith would roll his eyes at Lance’s eternal confidence, which annoyed him to no end; But this time around it didn’t feel _as annoying_. Considering they both actually agreed on something for once, Keith could only sit there in satisfaction. 

It was surprising, he thought the day would never come when both would agree on something. Maybe he would thank Pidge the next he saw them for letting such a miracle happen only through their idea. 

They drove around the city a little longer because Lance wanted to take pictures of things he thought were cool to show to his family later. Keith allowed this since it gave them something to do. And plus, this didn’t involve him in any pictures. 

They actually spent more time doing that then both originally thought. In fact, it didn’t feel like time had passed that fast, but it did. Lance grabbed something to eat for the road, while Keith refused as he wasn’t hungry. 

They merged onto I-580, heading south of the state to see where they’d end up next.

\--

_There the boy was, playing with his toy in the middle of the street like there was no worry in the world. Cars weaved around him quickly, but it looked like it didn’t bother him one bit. How could he be so calm in this situation? And why was nobody doing anything about this? Could they not see him?_

_Keith watched this unfold from afar, studying this odd scene before him. He tried yelling at the child to get out of the street, but no words were audible. It frustrated him, but he wasted no time and instead acted upon it like he always did. He stepped forward once, but once he did, the boy appeared slightly farther away. He thought it was his sight playing games with him so he tried again. With each step, it felt like he saw the boy further and further away, unable to reach him. This caused great panic to spread inside him like an infection._

_Before he realized it himself, he was running, despite feeling like he was getting nowhere. Sure, it was scary to watch the distance grow between himself and the boy, but it was scarier to simply give up. The boy was definitely far away--very tiny, but that alone didn’t disable Keith from seeing the truck come. Keith was convinced that he could’ve spotted it miles and miles away if that were the case, as though his senses were highly sensitive in this state of mind. He felt his heartbeat pound against his chest, almost like it wanted to get out of him because it couldn’t handle beating anymore._

_He heard the horn blare loudly, making his heart briefly halt. ‘How come no one is doing anything about this?!’ Keith screamed in his head, biting his bottom lip from the stress. The truck was so close...so damn close all the while picking up speed. Keith couldn’t bare it any longer, because he knew deep down inside that there was nothing he could do about it._

_He would not make it in time._

Keith’s eyes shot open, jolting wide awake as though he had been shoved out of his dream and into reality faster than he realized. Because he had been slouched down on his seat, he pushed himself up, taking deep breaths in and out in order to relax his tense muscles.

_What the hell was that?_

Keith looked up and saw that they were still on the road, and an empty one. In fact, when he looked out the side window, he saw nothing but a desert. He peeked over at Lance, who was in his own little world, yet attentive to the road ahead of him. 

Of course, Keith had been staring for too long because Lance when noticed, he screamed, causing the car to jerk off to the right. The sudden motion of the car jerking like that at such a high speed made the little car squeak, and Keith sick. Alert, Keith unconsciously held onto his seat, digging his fingers into it, as his heart raced.

“Oh god! I thought you were still sleeping.” Lance was startled, placing his hand on his chest as though to keep his heart from bursting out of his chest. He steadied the car back on the road, both hands on the wheel as he tried to keep his cool together.

Keith nodded in disagreement to that assumption Lance made, wishing he hadn’t jerked the car like that when he did. Partially, it was Keith’s fault for staring at him and not saying anything, but he didn’t know Lance would react as he did. 

“Don’t do that ever again,” Keith told him, feeling as though he were on one of those really bad carnival rides that seemed to never get maintenance done on it. 

“I can’t help that you scared the living crap out of me!” 

“You know what’s actually scary? Your junky car!”

“Seriously dude? Don’t insult my car. And I’m willing to bet that if you had been the one driving for hours all alone in the dark and all of the sudden I was just staring at you, then you’d be just as scared too!” 

Keith scoffed at his scenario, crossing his arms, “I definitely wouldn’t have screamed like six-year-old girl.”

“What?! I so did not sound like one!” Lance huffed, his cheeks turning into a bright rosy color from that accusation. 

“Whatever, point is, I don’t trust your car.”

“And what would you like me to do about that, your Highness? Wish the fear away for you? Get a better car? Sorry, but this is what you’re going to have to deal with for the next two weeks, so...just get used to it.” Lance trailed off in the end, the irritation spilling and weaving through those words so easily due to the lack of sleep. He had absolutely no problem with is own car because he thought it was perfect. It was Keith that had a problem with it, not him, and that was enough for Lance to let it slide and let him deal with that on his own. 

Keith could only look over at Lance, scoffing at his nickname. It was clear that Lance was at his limit. He observed how he yawned, and it dawned on him that Lance had been awake since...yesterday morning to get ready for this trip. 

“I can drive now, so go to sleep.” Keith ordered, breaking the small silence that had accumulated. He saw Lance shift in his seat from that offer, gripping the steering wheel slightly tighter.

The offer did sound nice to Lance simply because he was tired and wanted sleep. But he was also hesitant, unsure if he should hand it all over to Keith, even if it was for a while. Thinking back to all of those motel signs he had passed by earlier, he regretted not stopping to check into one of them. Now it was too late, since they were in the middle of Nevada’s deserts, miles and miles away from any civilization. He had no choice but to keep going forward.

Lance took a deep breath, “I-I don’t know. I can keep driving until we get to Las Vegas, at least.”

 _Las Vegas?_ Keith questioned, the surprise of their next destination settling in as well as the surprise that Lance actually wanted to keep driving until he reached there before getting rest (assuming they were still quite far from there). 

“How long until we get there?” Keith had to ask in order to gauge this situation.

“Umm...well, let’s see…” Lance paused, narrowing his eyes. “We’re near Crystal Springs, and I saw a sign just a couple miles back that read just around one-hundred miles until Las Vegas so-”

 _“One-hundred miles?”_ Keith stopped him right there, “Lance, that’s still about an hour to two hours left of driving and you look like you’re about to fall over, which would kill us both.”

Lance began to laugh a little, “Wrong because we would lose if I let that happen, and I hate losing.”

The comment surprised him, looking away from Lance as soon as he felt a slight smile creep on his face. He hoped the darkness hid his face just enough where Lance couldn’t see just how amused he was. Of course they would lose, and of course Lance hated losing--those two things he was absolutely correct on. He would roll in his grave, eternally bitter in the afterlife that he had lost the bet like this . 

“I hate losing too.” Keith threw out there, which wasn’t much of a surprise, but he had said it anyway to lighten up the air around them a little more. Plus, maybe this would loosen up Lance into letting him drive.

Lance snorted, “You don’t say?”

“It’s a shocker, but I had to say it at some point.” Keith kept the sarcasm ball rolling, mainly because it was fun to joke about something that was painfully obvious. 

Lance paused, looking contemplative. He kept tapping the fingers from his right hand on the steering wheel, licking his lips occasionally due to the dry air even in this cool night.

“Were you being serious when you said you wanted to drive?” Lance asked, side-eyeing Keith a couple times as he waited for an answer.

“Yes,” He quickly responded as he raised an eyebrow. Keith thought he sounded serious enough when he offered the first time, so he wondered why he was asking that when he knew the answer already. 

Another pause.

 _What is he thinking about so much? Does he not want to let me drive because I might fall asleep or something?_

“I...don’t think I can go back to sleep anyways, in case you’re thinking I might fall asleep behind the wheel. So if that’s what you’re worried about here-” Keith began, but then was quickly interrupted.

“No! No...It’s just…” Lance sighed, sounding unsure as to what to tell him. In fact, he was so unsure that he only stumbled in his words, rendering him incomprehensible.

 _It’s just what?_ There was obviously something that was bothering Lance because he could see it written all over on his face. The _‘what?’_ on that was hard to figure out since there could be many reasons as to why he doesn’t want to hand him over the car.

Keith was growing impatient, wanting Lance to spill whatever was bothering him already. Yet he held his tongue because he knew that if he hurried Lance, then he might not let him drive at all. 

Suddenly, Lance pulled over onto the side of the road. The car had a hard time coming to a clean stop because the edges of the road were filled with unsteady, tiny rocks. 

When the car was at a complete stop, Lance looked over at Keith and told him, “Never mind, you can take over.”

Lance didn’t have to say anything at all after that because Keith was already getting out of the car in order to do just that. Of course, he wasn’t too excited that he was getting to drive this particular car, _this very shitty car_ , but he was kind of excited that he was finally getting to do something different. Believe it or not, sitting in a car for hours and hours was boring to him, so he hoped this would make him hate this all a little less. 

Once they both switched and got their seatbelts on, he shifted the car into drive, stepping on the gas pedal with caution to get the car back onto the actual road. The car wasn’t all that sensitive, as it took quite a while to get the car back to a steady 60 mph. Of course he could go faster, but he opted out of that because of the car’s shakiness when it would reach that speed.

Lance yawned, took off his shoes, and then curled himself into a ball onto the seat. He wrapped the thin blanket Keith had been using around him, shifting his position to get comfortable. The quickness on Lance’s part to get in a comfortable position to sleep left Keith with the urge to quietly laugh. But instead, he swallowed that urge and could only feel relieved that they had switched positions when they did since it was obvious that Lance wanted sleep. 

At first he was so hesitant to hand over the driving to him, while being clearly tired from driving himself, Keith couldn’t help but wonder what Lance wanted to get at before he gave him the car, contemplating if it was even worth bringing it up again. Taking up all that time thinking and then without explaining why, he just let him drive anyway? It was all very weird to him.

“Hey Lance-”

It was then when he heard soft snores coming from beside him that prompted him to turn his head, witnessing Lance sound asleep. It surprised him a little that he fell asleep so quickly after being so nervous about him driving earlier. 

_Damn, he really really must’ve been tired,_ Keith thought. He underestimated just how tired Lance must’ve been, causing him to feel a tad guilty for letting him drive for as long as he had. Earlier it hadn’t occurred to him to volunteer, simply because he was in such an awful mood that he felt he didn’t have to do anything. But now that he was beginning to warm up to this roadtrip, realizing and accepting that this was something that he just had to get used to for the next two weeks, he felt somewhat of a responsibility to do his part to win. Winning would actually make this whole thing feel like it was worth something.

Occasionally, Keith would look over at Lance, taking note of how this guy slept. His nose was up in the air, his mouth slightly opened--in all honesty it reminded him of a little kid when he slept. As ridiculous as he looked, watching him sleep gave him a sensation of overall peace, as if the world was just as quiet as Lance was right now. 

The peace washed away the bits of panic left over from his nightmare.

He tried not to think about what _that_ was, deeming it a normal repercussion to yesterday’s “almost-accident.” Everyone and everything was okay, so why was this damned feeling in his chest still? This feeling of dread, as though his dream had been real--when in reality everything turned out just fine. How come this feeling lingered on like a ghost, like it mattered now somehow?

Keith swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat, taking a deep breath as he tried to cease _those_ thoughts--those thoughts from his days as a child that intruded in his head like parasites. Perhaps the traumatic experience from almost dying at such a young age was the root of all of this, or rather, that’s what professionals had told him all of his life when these feelings would find their way back to the surface. He didn’t want to think that that was the case considering it all had happened such a long time ago that it shouldn’t matter now. It was difficult to drag his thoughts away from this topic because there wasn’t much he could distract himself with at the moment. 

The longer he drove in this darkness, the more lonely he felt, which made that feeling worse. Maybe it was because everything was so dark, on top of the lack of cars that passed them--it felt like only he and this road existed, and nothing else. Or maybe, it was because Lance was asleep, making him feel truly alone. Deep down, he hoped that the sun would rise soon, but for now, he would have to pull through this one. 

With no Lance to argue with on this matter, he decided to turn on the radio to see if there were any stations he could bare listening to. But every station he turned it to, it was nothing but static. He should’ve seen that coming, since they were in fact in the middle of a desert. Then the aux cord in the cubby in between the seats stared at him, the same aux cord that Lance had connected his phone with that music...

He figured that whatever music Lance’s phone played, it would be enough of a distraction. He would much rather focus and deal with the headache that would ensue than the horrible feeling in his chest that stirred currently.

The first song that began to play wasn’t Nicki Minaj... _thank whatever godly thing out there._ He had already listened to one of her albums thanks to Lance, so he had quite enough of her for now. Keith was content, thinking that this would do for now. 

_“Where do the good boys go to hide away, hide away? I’m a good, good girl who needs a little company,”_

Keith admitted that his taste for music had a catchy feel to them, the songs being easy to remember, which was perfect for this occasion. He couldn’t help but wonder what other songs would come on, hoping to get a picture of what Lance liked to listen to. And by the end of the sixth song, he could tell that he liked to listen to pretty much everything. Variety was a good thing, he thought, but this was everywhere. 

_That was Lance though._

\--

It was seven in the morning according to the dim clock on the car, and Keith was emotionally done driving. There were signs that kept indicating that Las Vegas was just around the corner. But with every mile that passed, Keith felt his body falter. He knew that all he needed to do was get some food in his system--and sleep if possible. Especially after watching Lance sleep for this many hours, he had envied him. 

So close...he was so close to Vegas, and just knowing that pushed him to drive until he got there. 

It was strange because he knew that any other normal person’s reaction to being this close to Las Vegas would be completely different. They would be thinking about all of the places to visit right away, have a system in place, a ‘To-Do’ list for this gigantic place. And then there was Keith and Lance: where one was out like a light and one was planning his sleep.

From this night’s experience, he wrote a mental note to get a motel every night after this if possible. They didn’t particularly need to be anywhere at any date, so driving overnight was pointless. 

_“Oh, oh, oh, And when the lights start flashing like a photobooth, and the stars start exploding, we’ll be fire proof,”_

Surprisingly, this was a song that Keith knew beforehand, and a song he enjoyed. He unconsciously bopped his head to it, distracting himself from the fatigue that crept on him. Before he knew it, the song faded away, playing the next one.

_“(Bailando, Bailando, Bailando, Bailando) Tu cuerpo y el mio llenando el vacío, Subiendo y bajando, (Bailando, Bailando, Bailando, Bailando), Ese fuego por dentro me esta enloqueciendo, me va saturado”_

Now this one, he was really attracted to. And it wasn’t in like a, _‘Oh I really like this song,’_ sort of way, but in more of a _‘Fuck this song is hot’_ , sort of way. There was a slight time frame where he wondered if his judgement was clouded because of how tired he felt. He couldn’t even understand what the song was saying because it was in spanish, and yet he really liked this song. Later he would look up the translation, he thought.

Truth be told when he first arrived to Las Vegas, he wasn’t that impressed. Maybe it was because the city was more alive at night or something, because during the morning, it looked like any old regular city. Something that did look pretty awesome to him was its fair share of rather odd shaped buildings that made this place unique. That would definitely be something Keith would be interested in going back to later.

His first thought was to find a place that sold food rather than served, because he knew that waking up Lance was a lost cause. After a while of driving around the place, he found a 99 cent store and drove right up to it. And because he had every intention to leave Lance in the car, he left the windows rolled down. 

Upon returning back with donuts, granola bars, and two small milk bottles, he climbed inside the car and set the bag behind his seat on the floor. When the engine roared again, Lance began to wake up slowly. Keith watched Lance squirm, trying hard to find that comfortable position again but it looked like he couldn’t quite reach it. 

“Ugh…” Lance croaked, his voice hoarse from the doze. “Keith…”

That had definitely grabbed all of his attention, freezing him on the spot for a long while. Hearing his name and only his name escape Lance’s mouth made his heart skip a beat,. With his eyes still open wide in shock, he cleared his throat and decided to meddle with the radio again, wanting to occupy his head with trying to find a working station now instead of this. 

Because they were now in a city, it was very easy to find a station. He turned the music up just a little, enough that it wouldn’t wake Lance up. He’d rather have him sleeping than to deal with him awake anyway, especially after…

 _It was probably nothing, stop thinking about it,_ Keith told himself, shaking off this feeling. _What was Lance dreaming about?_ Everyone’s drowsy when they’re asleep, so he should be taking this lightly except that he wasn’t, and that was what bothered him. He furrowed his brows in annoyance at how this affected him. For all he knew, he could be begging Keith to stop burning him with his sick comebacks in his dream. 

And for all he knew, it could very well be...well not that. 

_Stay focused, and just find a motel to sleep in,_ he redirected his train of thought. He jumped on his earlier idea to get a motel, because frankly, he was not going to be sleeping on these seats anymore.

Finding a motel wasn’t that difficult, surprisingly, but it did came with a little distance from the city--outskirts of it to be precise. _It could be a lot worse,_ he had told himself. Keith also didn’t have time to be picky, because if the room had a bed with a pillow to sleep on, then it was a sweet deal to him. 

Keith left Lance in the car once again, walking inside to check them in as quickly as he could. They had until tomorrow morning until they had to check out, which wasn’t bad. _One night in Vegas, huh?_ Keith had no problem with that, and in fact, wanted to do that. Taking a break from driving for miles for one day sounded like a sweet deal to him, immediately taking the offer and booking the motel for them. 

He ran outside with their motel room key, to which he shoved down inside his jean pocket for now. Knowing very well that he had to wake Lance up now, he travelled to the passenger side of the car and opened the car door, placing a hand on his shoulder to shake him a little.

“Hey, Lance,” Keith called, noticing very quickly that he was a heavy sleeper. He lowered his eyebrows, sighing and then raising his voice, “Come on, Lance...wake up.”

This earned him an irritated groan from Lance, “Mhhh...ya mero me levanto ma...dame cinco minutos mas…” His voice cracked as he spoke softly in spanish, nonetheless. 

“Lance!” Keith yelled this time, causing Lance to jolt wide awake. He _almost_ (note: almost) felt bad that he had to do that, since the guy looked confused and still, very tired. But because he had little tolerance now that he was tired again, he didn’t care since he knew Lance would have no trouble falling asleep again.

“Huh?” Lance scratched his head as he blinked a couple times in order to see his surroundings more clearly. He squinted as he looked straight at Keith, the sun just so happened to be shining in that direction. “Where are we?”

Keith filled him in that he was able to get them to Las Vegas and that he got a motel for them. He only nodded, silently accepting it without much thought as he began to fall asleep once again. Keith shook him awake again before he could, and began to pull him out from the car.

“There’s an actual bed waiting for you inside there, doesn’t that sound nice?” Keith tried persuading him all the while forcing him out from the car, because let’s face it, the faster Lance moved, the faster his own head would be on a comfy pillow.

Eventually, and ever so reluctantly, Lance forced himself awake and out from the car. Keith reminded him to put his shoes on before getting out, getting only mumbles and barely audible noises in return. After he complied to carrying his own duffle bag into the motel, Keith was able to just carry his own duffle bag plus the bag of food he bought. He made sure the car was locked before going inside.

Luckily, their room was on the first floor, meaning no stairs. This was good for Lance especially, since he didn’t look like he was able to go up any kind of stairs until he was wide awake. 

Unlocking their room, they stepped into a room in which displayed a simple design just like the rest of the motel. The color beige was its overall theme, which included the furniture, bed, carpet, and pretty much anything else. The only feature that stood out in all of this was the little flat-screen TV that sat on top of the dresser in front of the queen bed. 

The one single bed. 

_Great._

This was his fault though, considering he did ask for the cheapest room without asking what actually came in it (And if the desk person had listed its features, then Keith wasn’t listening). Maybe it wouldn’t matter so much, considering he cared more about sleeping than the fact that he would be sleeping next to Lance as of right now. He just hated himself for not planning this a little better.

Keith placed his belongings against the wall, while Lance on the other hand, wasted no more of his time now that a bed was in front of him, simply throwing himself face-flat on it. There was a _thud_ from letting his duffle bag drop onto the floor, never once showing signs to pick it up. 

Almost like a zombie, Keith made his way to the window and drew the thick curtains together, preventing the sun’s rays from entering their small room. Then, he kicked his shoes off and climbed onto the bed, curling himself into a ball in an attempt to make room between Lance and himself, which wasn’t all that difficult to do so since they were sleeping on a queen size bed. Keith still thought this was too close, of course, but he would have to deal with it.

The room was silent, with the exception of Lance’s breathing. It was subtle and slow, in a rhythm. Without even realizing it, Keith focused on it until he saw the pale wall in front of him begin to turn fuzzy, his consciousness slipping slowly until he passed out completely into a deep sleep.

\--

There was a certain smell that infiltrated Keith’s nose-- _vanilla scented shampoo?_ Or at least, that’s what it smelled like. Shampoo always had a distinct smell versus regular fragrances. 

His eyes fluttered open, noticing a blurry figure sit on the other side of the bed. It must’ve been Lance, and he had clearly just gotten out of the shower. However, it didn’t help that the room was somewhat dark, so he rubbed his eyes in an attempt to clear his vision. He saw Lance look over his shoulder, noticing that he was beginning to wake up.

Once Keith’s vision cleared and adjusted to the dim room, which he wished it didn’t, he saw a shirtless Lance. _That_ definitely snapped him wide awake.

He couldn’t help it when his eyes traced his long, tan back, noticing the small, dark moles here and there--sprinkled like the those large stars he saw last night while he drove; You would only see three or four of them that were much more noticeable than the tiny ones. The one thing that did stand out the most to him was Lance’s tiny build of muscle on his upper arms. When Lance wore a shirt around him twenty-four seven, he thought he was completely lanky and just that--no muscles or anything to show for. But this was definitely a new find for Keith.

Keith’s eyes found themselves back onto Lance’s, immediately clicking his tongue and then looking away as though he was not impressed. 

“What? Am I too much to handle?” Lance jokingly asked, causing Keith to hate himself for looking at him even as much a second. 

It was truly unbelievable on what Keith witnessed next: The guy stood up and began to pose in ridiculous ways, flexing the little muscles he actually had, making him look even more stupid. 

Keith rolled his eyes, Lance earning a scowl for his smart ass question, “Yeah, you wish.”

The satisfaction on Lance’s face wouldn’t go away, even with a response like that. He grinned as he reached down on the floor for his duffle bag, scavenging for a shirt to wear. Then a slight chuckle slipped through, as though he couldn’t contain himself. 

Keith squinted, “What’s so funny?”

Lance had to cover his mouth with his shirt, and when that didn’t work, he looked away completely from Keith. That didn’t help his case at all, considering one, Keith already saw him wanting to giggle, and two, it began to make him feel angry because he had a feeling on exactly why he was laughing. 

“You were totally checking me out, dude.”

Oh my fucking god. Please just kill me now.

“Like hell I was! I just wasn’t expecting you to be…” Fuck this, honestly. “...shirtless?” Keith could only facepalm at his own weak response, his index finger and thumb slowly rubbing his temples as he cursed at himself in his mind for not wording that better. When he heard Lance snickering beside him, it made him throw the covers at him as he quickly got out from the bed.

“Hey!” He heard Lance say in a muffled tone from the thick covers hitting his face. 

_Why would he say that?! Why would I say that?!_

He decided to copy Lance and take a shower as well, and a long one at that. Keith couldn’t help side-eyeing Lance, watching him rip off the covers that blinded him. Once he was away from his peripheral vision, he swiped his duffle bag off the floor and took it all with him to the bathroom, leaving Lance to himself.

Closing the door behind him, he looked straight into the mirror. There, he saw how the lack of sleep last night had taken its toll, creating dark crescents under his eyes and pretty much making him age twenty years. _Okay, maybe not that much,_ but it certainly felt like it. His hair was everywhere--on one side there were fly-aways, and on the other side patches of hair matted to his scalp. He hoped that the shower would at least take care of his hair, while hopefully making him look somewhat decent altogether.

About an hour later, they both ate what Keith had bought earlier this morning in their room. It wasn’t exactly the healthiest choices for breakfast food, now that Keith thought about it, but it was something for now. Almost being one in the afternoon, it felt weird eating breakfast food this late, but because no one actually cared that much, they both continued to eat. 

With half a donut practically inside of Lance’s mouth, his words became muffled when he tried to talk. “Either talk or eat, but don’t do both!” Keith scolded him. Eventually Lance was able to swallow the donut, drinking a bit of his milk after that.

“Do you have anything planned for today?” Lance asked, putting the rest of his donut back in the carton since he was full. He asked it in a way that had more intentions than he led on, which raised Keith’s eyebrow. 

However, Keith gave the question some thought, and well, the answer was: _No._ He knew that Vegas might have something he’d be interested in doing, but he didn’t exactly know what yet. 

“No, not really.”

“In that case, want to tag along with me to take a look around the place? I think there’s like a mini statue of liberty around here somewhere, and it’d be awesome to get a snap of that.” Lance explained, stars lighting up his eyes as he mentioned the statue.

That actually wasn’t a bad idea at all, and Keith didn't feel the same dread that he did in Reno. Perhaps he had built more tolerance in the last couple of hours? Or he actually got some decent sleep that wasn’t in a cramped up car. Taking pictures of this city’s buildings wasn’t something he had in mind, but he thought of it as a start. Plus, he did pay for one night in Vegas, so might as well make the money put worth something. 

“Sure,” Keith agreed, causing Lance’s face to light up.

“Aw yeah!” The happiness that grew on Lance’s face was something that clashed with their dull room--extraordinary. He was really excited, and began to trail on how this was his first time in Las Vegas and all. Opportunities like this didn’t come around so often, and even far less for him--Keith could tell that much. He could say the same thing about himself, considering he’s never traveled outside the state before. 

He watched him rattle off all of the buildings he just had to get a picture of, describing them in such a “Lance way” that Keith had to restrain from laughing at him. The way he described things made them seem so much cooler than they actually were, because he figured that that’s how Lance saw it in his mind. Most of the time, Keith didn’t agree with his tastes, but this time, he really hoped that this wouldn’t disappoint him like everything else. Perhaps it was because he needed something positive, at least one thing, to happen soon in order to erase the lingering feeling of last night for good. 

One good thing would cancel out the bad right? At least, he hoped so.

Nodding at practically everything he said while he munched on his donut, it was up until Lance began to get up from the floor that brought Keith’s attention to him again. 

He watched Lance grab his shoes and begin to put them on, tying them quickly as though the buildings he wanted to see would run away before he could ever get a picture of them. When he noticed that Keith wasn’t moving, he sighed, very visibly impatient--however Lance chose to say nothing and decided to just straight up look at him, watching him eat the donut at his pace. 

Under normal circumstances, Keith could sit it out and let him stare him down for as long as he’d like, but today wasn’t one of those days. He too, wanted to go out and see what Las Vegas had to offer to him already, so he figured it would be for the best to just finish eating in the car. Besides, Lance was too pumped up to wait for him by the look in his eye, so he figured that this course of action would be the best.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming,” Keith got the hint and got up from the floor with a smirk on his face and a donut in his hand. 

As Keith shut the door behind him, he watched Lance basically skip down the hallway, turning into the lobby and disappearing from his view. He chuckled, wishing he had gotten footage of that on his phone. However, he was sure that there would be more opportunities for blackmail. 

Upon stepping outside the hotel, he saw that Lance had already turned on the car, the smell of the exhaust intruding his nostrils. Apparently Keith’s pace wasn’t good enough for Lance, because once Lance noticed him, he honked his horn a couple of times in an attempt to hurry him up. 

The sound of the horn made Keith slightly jump, feeling his blood run cold and his heart run like crazy. Keith’s hands flew quickly onto both of his ears in an attempt to save his eardrums from bursting. 

“I’m literally right here, what’s your problem?!” Keith’s steps were with haste, and not because he wanted the honking to stop, but because he was now angry. 

He heard Lance quickly apologizing, scooting his body as close to the door and away from Keith as he climbed inside the car a little too eagerly. Keith landed a punch on Lance’s arm, feeling instantly better now. 

“Ow! Dick move!”

“Honking the horn at me was a dick move!”

“I’m sorry!” Lance apologized one last time, rubbing his arm from the blow before putting the car in reverse and exiting the motel lot. 

As they made their way to the central part of Las Vegas, Keith rested his body against the door, not even minding the slight discomfort that came with that. With every minute that passed by, he felt his nerves settle themselves, leaving him only to wonder why it had shook him up so much like that. Thinking back to it, the horn wasn't even that powerful, considering it was inside of Lance's car, _for god's sake_. He may not have displayed it as much to Lance as it truly felt on the inside, but it really really shook him up. 

_This feeling_ , he knew this feeling. With what happened yesterday with that little boy and last night’s nightmare, it was almost undeniable that it was that same, dreadful feeling. But he swallowed it, making it go away because right now was not the time. His eyes locked on the city fast approaching them, forcing himself to let this distract him from the darkness that was stirring within his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith has underlying issues that will be resolved soon... (I feel like i tried to really hint here and there in this chapter, which is why it's so long aaaaaaa)  
> i put the red lion plushie in there as an easter egg bc i thought it was cute and yes it reminded lance of keith byeeeeee
> 
> Translations:  
> Lance: "Mhh...ya mero me levanto ma...dame cinco minutos mas..." translates to "Mhh...In a bit I'll be up mom...just give me five more minutes..."
> 
> Songs mentioned in order:  
> Hide Away by Daya  
> Youth by Troye Sivan  
> Bailando by Enrique Iglesias


	4. Chapter 4

According to Lance, beginning at the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign was the only “correct” way to enter the city. Keith knew this to be untrue, and in fact, knew that there were other ways to get to downtown without going all the way to the south of the city. Keith wasn’t one to pick and choose his battles, but something told him that this one wasn’t worth fighting over, so he let it slide. After all, Lance was the one driving.

The sudden gasp that escaped Lance’s mouth snapped Keith out of his contemplation, earning Lance a glare that went unnoticed since he was too distracted. Keith looked at what Lance was freaking out about, which was none other that the sign he was talking about earlier.

_Well that didn’t take long._

It looked exactly like how Keith had pictured it: the diamond-shaped icon with its red and light blue-coated lettering, all bordered with chasing yellow incandescent light bulbs.

“Dude look, there it is!” Lance vigorously swatting at Keith’s arm to make sure Keith was seeing it too.

“Yeah, yeah, I see it!” Keith grabbed Lance’s wrist and placed his hand back on the steering wheel, _where it should be._

The fact that Lance was paying more attention to the sign than driving made Keith want to be the driver instead. But before he could say anything, Lance made a turn that placed them off the road and into the small parking lot in front of the sign. There were groups of people already here, doing exactly what they would be doing in just a matter of seconds.

_Taking pictures._

He knew this would happen, just not so early on. _Why am I surprised again?_

Keith sucked it up and went along with it, because honestly, _what was the point on fighting against it? They were just damn pictures that meant nothing. The photos will probably be erased or lost at some point, forgotten forever_ , or so he hoped.

He watched Lance walk up to the sign with his phone, gazing up at it like it was the most coolest thing in the world. He looked so appreciative of _a sign_. Keith watched him take a couple steps back and then take a picture of it.

It was obvious that Lance valued the smaller things than Keith, so with that in mind, _maybe Lance wouldn’t lose something so precious to him like photos._ He sat on the thought. _Yeah, he wouldn’t. He’d keep them and brag about them forever._

Lance looked behind him and noticed that Keith was still by the car, causing him to call him out for it, “Dude, you’re as slow as a rock today!”

“It’s not like this place is going anywhere, so what’s the rush?” Keith began, gesturing at everything around him. It was a fair question, because ever since they left the motel it’s been nothing but being in a hurry. Lance’s mouth was open with no words coming out because he clearly had a hard time coming up with a good response.

He finally raised his hands up in defeat, clicking his tongue before he began, “So I might be a _little_ excited that we’re here...”

“I see that, which is why I’m driving next.”

“What? Why?”

“I can’t have you drooling over every little thing we drive by and not pay attention to the road. Plus, you can take pictures if you’re not driving.” Keith added that last bit as an incentive to get Lance to agree with this change.

“Hmm, I guess…” Lance rubbed his chin as he gave it thought. Then he shrugged, throwing him the keys, “Sure, why the heck not.”

The throw was a little low but Keith successfully caught it. He twirled the keys around his finger for a bit before placing them down in his pocket.

Keith stood next to Lance for the picture, feeling a little less reluctant than the last time. He watched Lance form an “L” with his thumb and index finger and then placed it underneath his chin. The smirk that ensued on Lance’s face told a story, one where he had plans to shove the picture in everyone’s face back at home.

“Not too shabby,” Lance looked genuinely impressed at the result, quickly letting Keith take a peek of the picture.

Keith shrugged, feeling indifferent about it. _I mean, I guess it turned out alright. Not that it matters._

 

\--

 

The traffic grew wild when they drove on the Las Vegas Boulevard, but it wasn’t all that surprising either; Many lived in the area, and the city took in tourists constantly. It was no wonder why three lanes, not including the turn lanes, wasn’t enough to reach speed limit in this place.

Eventually their surroundings became highly concentrated with the famous casinos and hotels. Of course, neither Keith or Lance were old enough to be gambling, but that wasn’t what attracted them to this area in the first place. It was the buildings that seemed to touch the sky, the gigantic screens that displayed advertisements, and the magical atmosphere that made one feel like this wasn’t real-- _that_ was what really caught their attention.

They spent a lot of time looking for a parking garage that would allow them to park for free. There were a dismally small amount of them, which dragged their search out much longer than either of them wanted. When they finally found a lot that actually had an open parking spot, they could hardly believe it. Keith just managed to take it before someone else would.

They were immune to the humid climate once it hit them outside. California’s hot, dry weather had prepared them for this.

 

\--

 

Keith was sure that Lance had to have had at least a hundred pictures on his phone of this place alone by this time, if not more. He didn’t mind in the slightest stopping every so often to take a picture of himself in front of something that piqued his interest, which was pretty much everything _._ Keith was convinced that if they had passed by good-looking trash can Lance would have made him stop to take a picture of him with it too. 

“Oooh! Oooh Keith! Let’s go in there!” Lance announced, nudging Keith repeatedly and gesturing to the chosen building.

The store looked... _custom-made_ , tailored to embody the party-like essence of this city. The outside splattered with warm colors, with the name of the store showcased black, broadway-like font with flashing lights outlining the letters; it was no wonder why it had caught Lance’s attention.

Upon entering the busy store, Keith found that this was a souvenir shop too. He had came across some already today, and the only difference about this one was that it was a lot bigger than the rest. The items he saw seemed to capture the spirit of this place: colorful and bright. There were miniature “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” signs, fuzzy dice, poker chip pillows, and so much more.

“Dude, check this out. It’s Presley-mania over here!”

Keith followed the sound of Lance’s voice, turning around to find Lance surrounded by Elvis Presley merchandise. Keith couldn’t help but gape when he saw the King’s face plastered on every kind of item one could think of, like mugs, keychains, shirts, posters, the list could go on. This section of the store took up a little less than half. 

“Isn’t this a bit excessive?” Keith asked, picking up one of the many mugs that read, “Viva Las Vegas” in warm colors.

“In high school I did a project on him and he did _a lot_ of shows here,” Lance flicked at one of the bobble heads, growing amused at how it bounced. “The King still reigns this city…”

Keith shrugged, his expertise on Elvis Presley was very minimal. He knew that he was the best in the genre of rock and roll, and that he sometimes wore a white jumpsuit... _yeah that’s about it._

Lance furrowed his eyebrows, looking at the mug he was holding and then back at him, “Really?”

“What?”

“The King of Rock and Roll? Extremely attractive? He wrote the famous song, _Viva Las Vegas._ You know? Like that mug you’re holding there says.”

“Oh,” Keith placed the mug quickly back on the shelf, “ _Well,_ I’m not sure how you’d expect me to know all of that.”

“It’s common knowledge, duh! What have you been doing the last nineteen years of your life?”

“Uh-huh,” Keith had tuned Lance out and let his eyes travel to one of the posters displayed behind Lance. It had a red-tinted Elvis Presley playing his guitar with radial red and yellow stripes filling the background with words that read, “Elvis Presley” and then underneath, “Love Me Tender.” _How romantic._ He then specifically focused on Elvis, even squinting his eyes because he couldn’t find what made this guy super famous, except for the music he never listened to.

_Wait, did Lance say he was attractive?_

Keith didn’t think so. The guy’s smirk reminded him of those smug rich kids back on campus that drive Cadillacs and treat everyone like a pile of garbage. It was those types of people that he really, _truly despised._ Just thinking about all the times he’s came across them at school made his blood boil.

“Helloooo...Earth to Keith, do you copy?” Lance waved his hand a couple of times in front of his face, but he continued to look at the poster. When Keith failed to reply, Lance turned around and saw the big poster too.

Lance disappeared from Keith’s peripheral, then suddenly feeling hands on his shoulders. It wasn’t long after hearing Lance whisper, “His beauty has you in shackles too? It was only a matter of time…”

“Just what the hell are you-” Lance hushed Keith by placing a finger in front of his lips.

“No, no, I see the passion burning in your eyes. It says it all…”

Keith shook him off, stepping away from him slightly. He rubbed his shoulders as though to wipe off Lance’s uncalled-for touch. “Don’t get any ideas.”

“I’m not! I just couldn’t help but notice that you were, uh, slightly distracted by his-”

“He’s not that attractive, Lance.” Keith interrupted him before he could say it again.

“Said _no one ever._ ”

Keith rolled his eyes, deciding to change the subject because it was obvious that they could go the entire day arguing about this. “Okay, so are you going to actually buy something this time or not?”

“Uhh, I don’t know, should I?”

“Don’t ask me,” Keith shrugged, looking around to see what else this store offered.

“Maybe I could get something for my sister...like a shot glass.” Keith heard Lance mutter as he began to walk towards the Las Vegas decorated shot glasses.

_What?_

“That’s lame. You’re in Vegas and you’re going to get a shot glass for your sister?” Keith questioned his decision, causing Lance to stop and think about that.

Keith knew about Lance’s constant sucking up to his family, and it was something that bothered him before this. Shiro had confided him about this matter before, like it somehow pertained to him, which it didn’t. Lance’s relationship with his family wasn’t Keith’s business at all. It was this particular case that drove him up the wall, wishing Shiro hadn’t told him about it at all.

It was about a month ago when Lance’s family had found out about him being bisexual. Keith didn’t know the exact details, but the way in which they found out was through social media because Lance was always so open on there. Before that all ensued Lance was never worried about his family finding out because he thought they would be accepting. Finding out that the opposite was true had really shaken him up.

They were anything but accepting. From how Shiro described it, Lance felt a need to make up for being the way he was by being extremely nice to them.

It was Lance’s confidence and naiveté that led to that wall, and ever since, Shiro had been helping him cope with it. Apparently Lance wouldn’t listen to Shiro, something that wasn’t hard to believe due to the kind of person he was. Lance was stubborn; he was someone who always kept to himself when it came to personal issues, always feeling the need to solve his own problems.

And because of all of that, Shiro truly believed that Keith was the only that Lance would listen to. Technically Shiro’s intuition wasn’t off, because that fiasco unfolded about a month ago. And so far, they haven’t touched the subject once. How could they? At times, they could barely pass looking each other before biting at each other’s throats.

In Keith’s mind, there was nothing wrong with trying to be the best person you could possibly be in front of loved ones. But once it turned into pleasing them with gifts or acts of kindness in order for them to accept you for who you are, that was where the line was drawn. Aside from the fact that it was wrong, it bothered him because Lance wasn’t meant to be defined by others, he defined himself _._

_And now he thinks it’s okay to make up for being bisexual to his family by kissing ass._ Keith couldn’t tell if Lance was aware of doing that, but he was fully aware and it pissed him off.

“Hmm, maybe you have a point! She deserves something better than just a shot glass.” Lance began to scan around to do just that, and Keith was quick to prevent him from picking anything.

“Why don’t you get something for yourself instead? Like, I don’t know…” He scanned the items nearest him before burying his hand in a small black tub of random keychains. The first one he pulled out just so happened to showcase ‘The King of Rock and Roll’ on it. He grumbled and tossed it back before picking up another one. This one had one of the bigger casinos on it. “How about this?”

Lance held out his hand, and Keith placed the keychain into it. He watched Lance inspect the keychain briefly until a small, amused smile grew.

“You think a keychain is cooler than a shot glass?”

“As long as it’s for yourself and you like it, yeah.”

Lance paused, taking that in with a hint of confusion in his eyes. “Why does it have to be for me though?”

“Hey, I just figured your car could use a little bit of life in it. Or you could get fuzzy dice if you really want to spark it up.”

“Feel how soft these are!” Lance gasped as he squished a pair of fuzzy dice hanging from the display. Keith felt other ones that were still on the shelf, appreciating the soft texture.

“I’d say get both. It’s not like you’re here all the time,” Keith pointed out, which was a fair statement given that this was probably Lance’s first time too.

Lance didn’t seem to need any more convincing, already on his way to the checkout stand. Keith waited for him at the entrance, glancing over at him every so often. Soon enough, Lance had returned to his side with a small black bag.

Once they were out the door, Keith looked over at Lance and immediately wished he hadn't. He clearly appeared guilty for taking Keith’s advice and not buying his sister something. Feeling as though this was somewhat his fault, he began to look for ways to distract Lance from it.

A block or two down the street was a stand that sold snow cones, and he thought it was the perfect distraction. Something cool in his system would feel pretty nice in this scorching heat, and he was was willing to bet Lance felt the same way.

Keith walked up to the stand and asked for two. He chose cherry for himself, and then turned to Lance.

“What flavor do you want your cone?” Keith asked, who looked unprepared to answer his sudden question. Lance cleared his throat, and quickly replied with, “Uh, blueberry?”

_Say it in the form of answer, not a question, dumbass._

Keith dismissed Lance and got him that anyway. Once the cones were handed to him, he walked over to Lance and handed him his. However, Lance looked hesitant, unsure whether to take it or not.

“What? Do you want the cherry one then?” Lance had caught him in a good enough mood to offer his own, but he still didn’t take it.

“Keith, did you just buy me a cone?”

Keith looked down at both of the cones in each of his hands, not sure what point Lance was trying to make. _Wasn’t that obvious?_

“Do you want one or not?” Keith hovered both of the cones in front of his own mouth, prompting Lance to swipe the blue cone away.

“Thanks, I think,” Lance muttered, inspecting the blue cone by rotating it a couple of times before eating any of it.

A rosy tint was noticeable on Lance’s cheeks, and Keith tried to remember if his face was that red before. The heat probably played a role in that. Good thing he bought him the cone when he did.

 

_\--_

 

Everything was timeless here. 

Before they both knew it, dusk had crept onto the clear sky. It made the air around them feel a little cooler when the sun wasn’t beating down on them. It was strange to see a city like this one grow more alive as the sun went down. It gave the impression that today was only beginning.

“Okay, one more, I promise!” Lance shoved his phone at Keith, who could only give in to Lance’s wishes and yet again take “one more picture.” This time, they were in front of the Egyptian themed hotel and casino called, ‘ _The Luxor.’_ The Great Sphinx of Giza situated right in front of the ridiculously large, black pyramid; a mighty sight worthy of a picture.

“Want to be in it?” Lance had been asking this question every time they stopped to snap a picture, the urgency increasing in his tone a little more each time.

“Again, no.” Keith told him as he held up the phone, waiting for Lance to pose.

“Oh, come on! Are you too good for pictures or something?” Lance asked with crossed arms, his eyebrow raising noticeably as he looked straight into his phone’s camera lens. Then a wild smile crossed his face, “Or are you afraid?”

Keith peeked over the phone, just so he could squint at him, scoffing at his endless accusations of this and that about him. “Why would I be afraid of getting my picture taken?”

Lance’s eyebrow arched even further, “Oh, I don’t know...Have you ever watched the movie Insidious?”

“No?”

“Well, the dad in the movie is scared of getting his picture taken because there’s always the same creepy woman in backgrou-”

“Lance, if I take this picture with you will you shut up?” At this point, taking the picture seemed like less of a pain than listening to Lance’s creepy movies that he took for real situations.

“Better think of the best pose you can because as you know, pictures with me are very rare,” Keith began to explain as he readied the phone, holding it up so that it would show the both of them and the extraordinary Luxor hotel behind them.

Lance laughed and immediately clapped his hands together excitedly. He shifted his body so that one of his hips were out while throwing the most serious face towards the camera.

Keith watched this happen behind him through the phone’s screen, raising an eyebrow at him as though he was not impressed. It was almost too cliche that it had distracted him; He didn’t even realize when his thumb slipped and took a picture or two. Credit had to be given to Lance though, considering the pose he was doing was much better than Keith’s (which was literally doing nothing but looking at the camera).

When Lance took his phone back to review the pictures taken, he immediately burst into laughter, “Dude! Oh man, best picture from this trip so far! You look so serious in this too that it feels like this picture was actually planned.”

Lance seemed to be done taking pictures for the time being, shoving his phone back into his pocket. Keith could tell that Lance had something planned, as a devilish look had appeared on his face. He then led Keith down the street to a part of the city called Town Square, which was an open area full of various shops and restaurants.

Lance walked so quickly that it was a little hard to keep up with him. The high concentration of people gathered at this place made it even more difficult to keep up, having to weave through them most of the time. The last thing Keith needed was to lose Lance in a place like this, so he made sure to keep his eyes glued to his back.

Lance pointed to a building that was labeled _“_ GameWorks _”_ , and Keith didn’t have to dig into it more than to know what the inside contained. “Right there! We’re going there!” Lance exclaimed as he jumped like a little child, growing more excited the closer they got.

Keith gaped at the extremely tall Coca-Cola glass bottle on one side of the building, and the two M&M characters holding their own large, yellow bag of peanut M&Ms on the other side. _Jeez, is everything bigger in Las Vegas?!_ It was really impressive to witness this in person, and he _almost_ had the urge to take a picture of it. _Almost._

Entering GameWorks, they were bombarded with loads of people just scattered everywhere. while the crowd made Keith feel a little uncomfortable, Lance was ecstatic, his known love for video games showing itself in the way his eyes sparkled.

They wasted no more time and found the station that would convert their dollar bills to playable coins. Of course, there was a line at each machine. It made Lance antsy, shifting like a child who was waiting impatiently for a turn to use his favorite toy.

“Could you stand still? The games aren’t going anywhere.” Keith reminded him, and to no surprise, that wasn’t enough to settle him down.

“I see like two–no wait...like _ten_ games I want to play!” Lance’s eyes then shifted over to the line in front of him; Keith watched a pout and bold frown lines form from the impatience.

Keith sighed, _Lance is literally a child. I’m on a road trip...with a child._

Once they had the desired tokens, Lance skipped over to a set of basketball arcade machines with “The Los Angeles Lakers” logo plastered on the sides. It was honestly the last thing Keith expected Lance to pick, but he was sure that he had his reasons.

“One-on-one?” Lance asked as he eagerly threw a token into the slot of his machine, causing the machine to release a set of basketballs for him to play.

_He wants to play basketball with me?_ Well now that Keith was here, he thought that he might as well play whatever he could.

“You got it,” Keith walked over to the same machine next to the one Lance was going to play on and threw in a token as well.

Keith picked up a basketball and rotated it a couple of times in his hands in order to find a comfortable grip before shooting it. He probably looked like he was treating this basketball as though it were a foreign artifact with the way he was handling it.

“Watch, I’ll show you how it’s done.” Lance held the ball with his right hand, and it was obvious that Lance was going to shoot the ball with the same hand. Keith knew enough about basketball to know that that wasn’t the proper way to shoot a ball, but he chose to remain silent on this one because he wanted to see Lance’s terrible technique unfold.

“Kobe!” Was the last thing Lance said before sloppily tossing the ball. It flew and for a split second, it had looked like it could have made it into the net. It bounced off the rims of the basket before disappearing down into the machine. “Aw, man!”

Keith couldn’t help but to laugh, “I thought you were supposed to get the ball into the basket?”

Lance chuckled through the grit of his teeth, “I-I’d like to see you try, smartass!”

Keith held the ball with two hands, his left hand supported the weight of the ball and his right hand simply placed at the middle of the ball. With just enough force, Keith was able to propel the ball upwards, its trajectory in sync with where the basket was. This shot was easier to call, because it perfectly landing inside the basket in a swift motion.

Lance gaped, “Huh?! How’d you do that?!”

To be truthful, he was unsure of that himself. “Shooting the ball correctly could have something to do with it,” Keith shot Lance a sly smirk, “Or I just don’t naturally suck.” Keith heavily leaned on the second possibility if was being honest with himself.

Lance’s eye twitched. “Oh, _it’s on."_  He threw Keith a toothy smile, the statement clearly getting him pumped and going after the next shot.

Keith focused on his own shots, slowly racking up his score. Every time he scored the machine would play a little _ding_ , indicating to not only himself but also to Lance that he was scoring big time. Keith was a little surprised just how well he was doing, not being an expert by any means, but he also didn’t felt the need to question it. As long as he ended up winning, he’d hoped it would make him less cocky.

Once he had shot his last basketball, his eyes hovered over to his score, _16\. Not too shabby._ He then looked over at Lance’s score. _A measly 3._ Keith felt his self-control wavering, and it wasn’t long before his snorts turned into laughter.

“Three?!”

“So basketball isn’t my thing, _big whoop!_ Doesn’t mean I suck at every game!” Lance stated, taking a step towards Keith in a defensive matter. “I’d like to see how you’d do with an FPS!”

_FPS?_ Keith wasn’t acquainted with the term, but he figured that Lance had probably made it up. “What?”

“A first-person shooter! There’s tons of those babies here, all of which I could totally, one-hundred percent, guaranteed, kick your ass at. _Hard._ ” Lance shot him smug grin, one that gave Keith the urge to prove him wrong.

They walked over to what appeared to be a post-apocalyptic game, the art on the side featuring a zombie in a typical fashion; disheveled clothing, discolored skin, and a rotting face painted in gruesome detail. The machine was equipped with two toy guns, which was exactly what they needed in order to kick each other’s butts.

Keith didn’t think the game was too difficult; the small waves of zombies that approached him gave him a lot of time to aim and shoot for the brain. His character carried a shotgun, a short-range weapon that he thought was almost too effective, as it finished each and every zombie in one shell. From the moment they booted up the game and selected the “Two-Player” option, they were neck and neck in their scores. However, as soon as the game picked up and the waves of zombies increased in numbers, the weapon was practically useless. The time in between each shot was too great, mere seconds costing him precious health points. The frustration grew when Keith had to reload, regretting the decision to do so because of how much longer that task took.

“Come on!” Keith exclaimed, not really taking the time to aim anymore as his rage simply drew him to shoot anywhere and everywhere he could, hoping that would kill them off. Of course, that didn’t work, and at this point, all of the zombies were on top of his character , eating away at him. Still, he continued to fight, this time using his gun as a melee weapon to swat the grotesque monsters away.

“Struggling much?” Keith didn’t know how Lance even had the time to start up a conversation during this. It was when he peeked at his foe’s screen that he realized why.

Lance was perfectly fine at the game’s fast pace, accurately aiming and shooting at the zombies one by one. When the zombies were in a line, he’d score bonus points. _How does he make it look so easy?_ Lance used the same gun as him, the same character, the zombies even looked the same— _everything was exactly the same._

“How the hell are you-?” Keith was cut off by his screen fading to black, and then displaying a blood-splattered screen with his pathetic score. The precious seconds that he took his eyes off his own screen had made him lose faster than he would have liked.

Lance on the other hand, continued scoring big points, breezing through the game with no indication of struggle. No matter how fast the zombies were, it seemed like Lance was there just in the knick of time to obliterate them in a perfect shot. It wasn’t until the game prompted him to slip in another token in order to continue that he decided to call it a game.

“Woo-hoo!” Lance fist-pumped the air, beaming with energy, “I still got it baby!” He did a little victory dance before glancing over at Keith. “So what did you think of that?!”

Keith was speechless, really. Sure it sucked losing to Lance, but it also made him want to see more of Lance’s capabilities. He wanted that same energy with a game he’s also really good at; he wanted something exhilarating.

Then he thought of the perfect video game.

“Want to race?” Keith felt playful, a toothy grin spreading across his face.

The vigor in his question caught Lance off guard , and he was unsure how to respond to it at first. In the end, he really didn’t have to say anything because Keith didn’t wait for him to do so; the same guy who was complaining earlier about Lance being too excited was also the one eagerly searching for a racing game that looked appealing enough to him. God knew what Keith would find appealing enough, his tastes are rather mysterious and not easily predicted.

Keith led him around the arcade until they found the area with the console games, specifically, the Xbox One. There, a fairly new game called “Forza Motorsport” was up for anyone to play. Even though Keith hadn’t played this game yet, he felt a spark in his hands just looking at it, excitement to try it building inside him.

The place was nice enough to provide chairs to sit down in while one would play, but neither of them chose to use them. Keith couldn’t speak for Lance, but he felt like he played better while standing. As the countdown clock began, he gripped the controller tighter, his thumb slightly hovering over the right toggle stick, aiming to gas it right away as soon as the countdown would hit zero.

And Keith did just that, successfully gaining the lead over Lance from the start. The controller mildly vibrated in his palms as he made his way down the track. He remained focused, weaving his way through the computer-controlled cars and the numerous obstacles thrown at him and dodging every one of them swiftly and successfully.

Lance, however, struggled to maintain control over his vehicle. He couldn’t execute his turns as smoothly as Keith, causing the back tires of the car to skid and lose momentum. That especially cost him precious time; time that he needed in order to catch up to Keith. He soon noticed that Keith was well ahead of him– almost an entire lap ahead– and he felt discouraged, knowing that he wasn’t going to win this round.

“Ha! That’s two to one,” Keith pointed out with a smirk that wouldn’t be so easy to swipe off.

“Aw man!” Lance threw his head back, grimacing as though the loss had physically hurt him. “I think that was the shortest time anyone’s ever beaten me at something! You could’ve cut me some slack, you know.”

“Cut _you_ some slack? Yeah right!” There was no reason to, after he was defeated so brutally at that zombie game earlier. This was more or less payback.

“I can’t believe you… _so rude...so cold..._ ” Lance rested the back of his hand against his forehead as though he were dying; If there was any proof that Lance was a drama queen, once again, here it was.This is what he had to put up with when it didn’t go Lance’s way. “ _And_ I’ve been going easy on you!"

“Oh really?” Keith scoffed at that last bit, he could hardly believe that. “Want to show me how you _really_ play basketball then?” He watched Lance’s facial expression shift from confident to nervous and had to hold back a smirk.

“Ha-ha…” Lance chuckled nervously, reaching back to scratch his neck. “Yeah, but we already played that so it’d be boring.”

Keith hummed, “You’re right, it would be boring to watch you lose again.”

Lance opened his mouth in disbelief, but nothing came out. He searched for a good comeback, but when he couldn’t come up with one he suddenly twirled on his feet and walked away, leaving Keith all by himself.

“Huh?! Wait-! Don’t leave me behind, asshole!” Keith called in surprise, moving quickly on his feet to follow Lance before realizing he still had the controller in his hand. He scrambled back to place it beside the console, and then resumed following Lance’s unnecessarily quick pace.

_Unbelievable. And he thinks I’m cold._ Keith clicked his tongue, shaking his head at Lance’s antics. He was just being dramatic, he didn’t actually think Keith was like that...right?

Lance’s head turned left and right, looking around for _something_. He was so caught up in whatever he was thinking that he didn’t pay attention to people around him; He shouldered at least three people, and if Keith hadn’t stopped him he would have rammed into a kid head on.

It wasn’t long until Lance found it, and Keith knew just by looking at it that he had already lost. “Just Dance” was displayed on the Xbox Kinect, hooked up to a rather large flat-screen TV.

“Aw yeah, I used to play this all the time!” Lance exclaimed, walking up to it eagerly. “We’re totally playing this!”

Keith strategically stayed back so that the Kinect wouldn’t detect him too. Lance noticed his hesitation rather quickly, “Come on! I’ll look stupid if I dance by myself.” 

“I mean-”

Lance soon caught wind of Keith’s implications, hushing him with a question of his own.

“Do you know how to dance?”

_Of course not._ He may have caught on to many new skills fairly easily, but The art of dancing was not one of them, and he wasn’t eager to find out just how mediocre he’d look.

“No,” Keith shook his head, watching an amused smile tug at Lance’s lips. It sent a red flag that perhaps he should leave before it was be too late.

“Well, well, _well,_ I guess _someone_ has to teach you.” Lance stretched out his hand, his hand signaled Keith to come forward.

“Oh really ? You dance?” Keith found his confidence entertaining, wondering just how good of a dancer Lance really was. He was wary of Lance’s dancing ability mainly because he always boasted about being good at everything.

“Do I dance?! _Do I breathe?_ ” Lance asked in horror, as though this was common knowledge.

Keith raised his hands in defense. He wasn’t really sure how he was supposed to have known that prior to this; they never had room for a civil discussion about each other’s hobbies or likes in the past. However, he was beginning to realize that there was a difference between when Lance would boast out of whim versus boasting out of passion, noticing a gleam in his eyes that had also been present with the zombie game.

“Now then-- ” Lance reached over to grab Keith’s wrist, pulling him right beside him so that the Kinect would register him as the second player. “Let me teach you a thing or two.”

A look of horror crossing his face , Keith watched the Kinect register him officially with Lance choosing the song immediately after. The game quickly previewed a part of the song before the screen faded, and just going by that bit Keith wanted out fast.

“I don’t want-” Keith watched the screen in front of him transition to a bright, colorful stage with a woman right at the center. She looked like she was dressed for Mardi Gras—a tall hat of sunset-colored flowers with a large matching feather attached to it, two large hoops on her ears, a matching two-piece puffy outfit, and matching wedges to top it off. _Wedges._

“Don’t worry, I bet this one’s easy!” Lance reassured him as he began to copy the woman, step by step.

_“Come on do it with me, you’ll never forget it, if we let the mambo take over the song,”_

The song was a latin song, mixed in with dubstep and that combination made it the worst song to dance to. It was incredibly fast paced and required a lot of movement , something that Keith did not have a lot of practice with.

It didn’t take long for him to miss almost every single move. _‘This one’s easy’ my ass!_ There was a couple of instances where Keith had almost tripped over his own feet.

The frustration only grew when he couldn’t quite get a firm rhythm going. Lance, on the other hand, was having the time of his life, Showing no signs of struggle whatsoever. He was in his zone, whereas, Keith was totally not.

Bright, yellow stars glowed along with the “Perfect!” pop ups appearing above Lance’s score, which rubbed in the fact that Lance was winning, and winning it fairly. Copying the little dance cues on time seemed like a simple task but it clearly branched beyond that, and Lance had it all down to a T.

_“Everybody, bailando! Everybody, cantando! Everybody, gozando! Drop, drop, drop the mambo!”_

Keith couldn’t shuffle his feet as fast, or sway his hips as smoothly as the dancer on the screen could, but Lance could. _Oh he definitely could._ Keith found himself sneaking a couple (more like a lot) of glances at Lance—only to study him, of course. He was watchful of the way Lance’s shoulders and hips fluidly moved with the fast-paced beat, every move executed smoothly. He had to admit that he was a natural at it, which was a little astonishing, to be honest. It was a side of Lance he didn’t really expect to see. He felt lucky to be witnessing it in person.

The intensity of Lance’s dancing caused his shirt to creep up, exposing the skin of his hip. It took Keith’s breath away, his heart skipping a beat.

“Woah!” Lance yelled out as they crashed into each other thanks to Keith’s slight distraction. Luckily, Keith was able to both catch himself and Lance, who had latched onto Keith’s right arm reflexively. Lance’s back dangled a foot above the ground, out of breath as he looked up at his savior. It was clear that he was disoriented from the fall, blinking a couple times before his eyes finally focused on Keith. A devious little grin appeared on his face that flashed white teeth, his eyebrows wiggling up and down.

_“Olé,”_ Lance he spoke teasingly, which immediately earned him a place on the floor as Keith drew his arm back. He fell onto his ass, an _‘Oof!’_ escaping his lips.

“Pretty sure that’s the wrong genre, you jackass!” Keith was furious, perhaps because he felt as though Lance was playing into the strange and embarrassing thoughts bouncing around in his head, which he never intended to let see the light of day.

“Ugh...that’s going to hurt for days…” Lance moaned, rubbing his behind as he got up sluggishly.

Keith clicked his tongue, showing no signs of any remorse as he drew his attention back to the screen. The game had kept going for a little while longer before it booted them off the song for not scoring anything. A scoreboard was posted, and there was really no contest.

“Ha! Look who won? Lance, baby!” Lance momentarily forgot that his behind was sore from the fall, throwing himself a victory dance. He winced, ending the party a little sooner than he would have otherwise. His score glowed gold from all the points he had accumulated, making Keith’s look dull in comparison. It didn’t matter to him though, because it was a fair win. And better yet, he was done dancing.

_Never again._

“I think the word you meant to use before this was _hard,_ ” Keith brought up bitterly, his body sore from the energetic number he just attempted. He would definitely regret that later.

“Hey, I can’t help that you suck at dancing,” Lance shot a smug look, trying to tease Keith, but he just rolled his eyes in response.

“So? I mean, it’s whatever to me. You won fair and square since you can obviously...” He awkwardly looked away, painfully aware that he was feeding into Lance’s ego, _“...dance.”_

Lance perked an eyebrow up, his mouth slightly opening “You think so?”

Keith didn’t expect that sort of response; one that was unsure, one that needed validation. “Yeah, not many people can, uh...” _Shit, I don’t know, look so good while dancing,_ he mentally finished his sentence. He couldn’t say that. _Why did I open my mouth?_ He cursed his habit of running his mouth before it went through his brain. “...move...like you do.”

There was a lag in response, Lance’s eyes growing in surprise. His silence made anxiety stir in Keith’s system. Could Lance see right through him?

Then, a beaming smile grew on Lance’s face, “Duh! My moves are sick.”

Keith hadn’t realized he had been holding in his breath until he let a puff of air out. _Dancing was a mistake,_ he concluded. He couldn’t afford to participate in an activity where Lance looked as good as he did dancing again. It ruined his thought processes, made him stutter like a dunce, and momentarily threw him into cardiac arrest, and that wasn’t a good sign. His stomach fluttered the more he thought about it, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he was coming down with something.

The feeling had been in such a short time frame, and yet it stood out so boldly in his mind that he couldn’t seem to move past it. Maybe it was the fatigue getting to him, making him focus on things that shouldn’t matter. That was a plausible explanation, right? Even if that was the case, Keith still couldn’t put a finger onto those feelings—they felt so foreign and intangible that it only made him want to understand it more. And the more he’d pick at it , the more questions he knew he’d have.

_Yep, definitely a mistake._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super sorry for the incredibly late update~!  
> Props to @daamazingmeepers for yet again being nice enough to beta this chapter ^u^  
> (PS EVERYONE GO READ MY FRIEND'S SUPER SUPER A+ KLANCE FIC [HERE](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8063347/chapters/18475867) THANKS)


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